Broken Bones
by ShewolfAngelus
Summary: Valerie Prescott, a feral canine, suffers through a life of uncertainties and discovers something is different about her. Scientist Adam Kane tries to help Valerie before Genomex discovers her. This is her story.
1. Chapter 1: Trouble Starts

Part 1

Chapter 1: Trouble Starts

"Get out of my fucking face..." I growled at the cheerleader who approached me with her hands on her hips. Her curly hair made me want to pull it out strand by strand from her tiny brainless head.

"I saw you hitting on my boyfriend today, and I want you to know that I won't tolerate that," her penciled on eyebrows were almost touching in anger.

"Oh, you mean Jeremy Danvers? Hm, that's interesting...he didn't mention a dumb blonde girlfriend when he came over to my house last night," I smiled watching her expression change. "That's right blondie, Danvers is cheating on you. He told me he likes women with brains and just couldn't take it anymore being with you."

Once I finished my sentence I was pushed down on the ground by the lead cheerleader. I was surprised her weight could push me down, but I suppose momentum played a large role. Now was my chance, I bit her arm and my hands grabbed for her curls and I pulled harder than ever, her screams seemed to cheer me on further. Then I pushed her off of me and she flew across the locker room into a running shower. Hot with anger, I ran after her and punched her in the jaw, grinning as I heard it crack. Her blood mixed with the water, and I took in the scent victoriously.

"I recommend that you move on quickly, or I'll be back," I turned my back and wiped my hands with a towel and threw it at one of her friends before grabbing my stuff.

As the day went on I felt much better, all that energy had built up inside me and poor Allison was the victim. 'She deserved it,' I thought and smiled to myself. I met Jeremy at his car for lunch.

"Hey, I heard Allison left campus in an ambulance about an hour ago."

I greeted him with a hug, "yeah, you're looking at the mastermind behind it."

He shook his head a little in disapproval, "Valerie, you're going to get yourself expelled, you know that right?"

I laughed surprised, "oh yeah? Guess I get an early vacation then, you going to ditch to spend it with me?"

We got in his car and drove off campus just as the local police had shown up.

"Oh shit...you don't think."

Jeremy saw them too and hit the gas to get us out of there.

"My house, I need to grab some stuff there."

He nodded and we started to drive to my house, which was not far from the high school.

Jeremy waited in the car while I ran into my house, it was empty since my parents were both at work. After running up the stairs I packed a gym bag and then froze, I wasn't alone in the house…I could hear movement from the kitchen downstairs.

"Jeremy?" I called out but he didn't respond.

"Damn it," I sighed and grabbed my bag and opened the window that was in my room.

Looking down I saw a van parked across the street and Jeremy's still in the driveway with him inside. Now I wondered who exactly was downstairs in my house. I tossed down my bag from the window, but Jeremy was more interested in the radio and didn't notice it. So then I crept down the hall again to the top of the stairs. I saw a man with strange white hair ordering other people around, telling them to find all they could about me. One of them spotted me and their eyes changed to this weird gold color. I took off running back up the stairs and shut and lock my door, but the man kicked it down in one shot.

"What the hell are you?" I asked backing up to the window.

He only laughed at me but it bought me enough time to get close to the window and I jumped out of it. My landing on the ground was perfect and I couldn't believe it, but there was no time to be surprised.

Grabbing my bag I got into the car, "drive Jer, there was someone inside trying to kill me. Didn't you see them?"

He shook his head no but started to drive off quickly.

"I don't think they were police, and one of them, he had like these gold eyes and he broke down my door…this other guy had white hair and creepy skin," I explained till I was out of breath.

Jeremy asked me if I was feeling okay and I got pissed off that he didn't believe me. When he turned to me he immediately hit the brakes with a strange look.

"Val...look in the mirror," he whispered.

I opened the visor and looked at my reflection and saw what had scared him, my dark brown eyes glowed a brilliant blue. I rubbed them quickly and got them back to normal, and then I could see normal again too.

The car ride was quiet from that point on; we drove to his house and his parents were out of town in Florida.

"When I was seven I first realized I was stronger – than all the others. My senses are so strong and I can get whatever I want from anyone," my voice drifted off to see his reaction, there were a lot of things I still didn't mention.

Jeremy parked the car in his driveway and looked at me, "your secret is safe with me."

I got out of the car and followed him inside with my bag, "that's it? I mean...shouldn't you be like asking me questions or saying I'm insane or something?"

He laughed and took off his jacket, "I've got secrets of my own Val."

I gave him a strange look and started to open my mouth to say something when sirens started to come closer, "they found me Jer."


	2. Chapter 2: Discovered

Chapter 2: Discovered

Twenty minutes of fighting later, I was restrained and handcuffed, arms and legs. I sat in a room for questioning and started to answer some of them until my parents arrived to pick me up. Jeremy didn't come with me, only stayed at his house and I told him I'd call once they let me go. My parents were angry as always and gave me the same speech as before about letting my anger get out of hand. The whole time I just kept quiet and the police said I'd have to appear in court to hear the charges against me, something like that. As we were going home I suddenly remember what happened earlier, the men that were in our house. I couldn't say anything about that encounter because I was supposed to have been at school or lunch. When we got to the house everything seemed normal, the doors were locked and no one was inside and everything in order.

"You've got to be joking," I couldn't believe there was nothing missing or messed up. I cursed remembering my stuff was at Jeremy's house.

All three of us then sat down for two hours to argue about what had happened at school. My parents always seemed concerned and astonished by what I could do, but it only made them think something was terribly wrong with me. Afterwards my mom announced that we were going on a camping trip, that it was something the family needed. I groaned not wanting to be cut off from the world for a week and begged Jeremy to come with when he dropped off my stuff, but he said he had to work anyways.

I had left the house for the evening to bring home dinner for the night. When I walked into a Thai fast food place a man called out my name and I froze. He was older than me, dressed in a suit, and drinking coffee while reading the newspaper.

"Excuse me?" I said to him since I didn't know him or how he knew my name.

"My name is Adam Kane, I am a scientist of genetics," he explained then held out his hand to shake.

I shook I hesitantly, "How do you know my name?"

He cleared his throat and told me to have a seat.

"I prefer to stand, now answer the question," I snapped back.

Mr. Kane gave a small laugh then continued, "Valerie your parents brought you to me when you were little. Your body had developed an immune deficiency and went to me for help. Your treatments were called genetic therapy, since tests revealed the problem was genetic."

I shook my head in disbelief, "I remember being sick but I don't ever remember seeing you. Genetic therapy?"

Adam nodded, "Your DNA was then spliced with that of a canine, your health started to improve and later on you should have developed extraordinary abilities. All your senses more sensitive than those of others, sharp teeth and nails, ability to see in the dark and your eyes change when alarmed, yes? Sounding familiar?"

I stared at him with my arms crossed, I didn't know what to make of this man and then I wondered if he worked with the white haired man who broke into my house.

"No...I am not a freak!" I shouted at him and my eyes changed, but I covered them until I could see normal again.

I then decided I'd find dinner somewhere else and turned to leave, but he grabbed my arm tightly and he said, "You can either let me help you….or go through this alone, it's your choice. You have a week to think on it, and then meet me here."


	3. Chapter 3: Accepting Change

Chapter 3: Accepting Change

The entire car ride to the camping location I was in thought; I didn't dare ask my parents about the treatment Mr. Kane had talked about, because if it wasn't true then they'd seriously think I was crazy. After pitching tents and trying to get cell service, I went to bed like my parents had. I still just couldn't sleep so like usual I got up and decided to go for a walk out in the woods. Being able to see in the dark was more than helpful. Once I was about a mile from camp a fox came out of a hole snarling at me, I knew that I was in his territory. I wasn't about to let this fox win, without consciously know it I went down on all fours and fingers nails started to grow out, it hurt like hell but my eyes didn't leave the fox's; I snarled and growled back until he ran off. Once he was gone I got up on my feet and noticed my hands were bleeding and I watched as these thick nails returned back to normal.

"What's…happening to me," I whispered and rushed back to camp to clean my hands.

At that point I had made my decision, I was going to go with this Adam Kane and figure out what he knew. My parents never found out about what happened that night, but once the trip was over I had to go to court about the cheerleader.

Jeremy was sitting behind me, and I sitting next to my lawyer. The judge read the accounts of what happened and the charges against me. Allison's attorney questioned me about what had happened and if I intended to hurt her and blah blah. After only a few minutes I was already bored with the story.

"Allison says you even bit her with your own teeth, causing deep wounds that needed stitches."

My mouth made an O shape in protest, "Your honor I swear I didn't bite her!"

The other side had picture evidence against me. My lawyer shook his head in defeat.

"Allison will be rewarded the amount of money for medical expenses and Miss Prescott is to pay them as well do one hundred hours of community service as a first offense."

Allison didn't seem too impressed and I was surprised as well, I thought for sure it would be harsher than that. Jeremy rubbed my shoulders and I saw the disgusted look Allison had given him. I couldn't help but laugh and he did too. We went out and got some lunch before Jeremy had to go back to work. After, I remembered that today was the day Adam Kane wanted my decision. I walked back to the Thai fast food place to find him there in the same chair.

Sitting down I noticed him smile and he put down the paper, "wasn't sure if you'd be back," he confessed.

"Yeah. well, things are getting out of hand and I guess I do need help."

Then I explained to him the camping the trip incident and what I had done to Allison.

Mr. Kane examined my nails, "You know eventually teeth will grow in as well, which is extremely painful and will need sedation when the time comes."

I winced thinking about my teeth getting larger, but listened as he explained that he could help with the physical and mental changes. He called it, feral canine.

In order to do this program he said I'd have to leave my family and stay with him. For a second I became scared, I couldn't imagine leaving something so familiar to me but I reminded myself that I needed control. Hell, I still couldn't believe I was this freak of nature.

"I'll do it," I sighed and went with him to a place he called Sanctuary.


	4. Chapter 4: A New Life

Chapter 4: A New Life

I looked over at the clock on the wall, "How much longer are these tests going to take?" Adam sighed and shook his head, "everything is off the charts," he rushed around the lab.

"Look, I feel fine, see? Smiling, breathing, good yeah?"

Adam finally stopped and pulled up a simulated image on the screen. He then started talking about glands and other stuff I just couldn't follow.

"What? Are you even talking English here?" I soon regretted my comment when he glared at me, then I stopped asking questions and watched the clock tick. Adam mentioned that he had talked to my parents and they agreed to let him help me.

"Ah, now I just wish they would of told me before…then I wouldn't be surprised when some man with white hair breaks into my house and chases me because I'm some dog woman," I sat up.

"Actually wolf...wait, did you say a white haired man?"

I could see the color from his face disappear.

"Yeah, he showed up at my house the day I met you. One of his guys chased after me but I got away. It was weird."

Adam cursed, "His name is Mason Eckhart; he works at a company called Genomex. It's the company I used to work for when your parents brought you in. Eckhart is not a good man, he wants to build an army of mutants and achieve who knows what."

I sighed, "What a mess, why did you do this to me…are there others like me?"

He stood up and started to remove the monitors, "it was a small price to pay for your condition and it wasn't my fault your parents never told you Valerie. Tomorrow you're going to start training, now go rest in your new room."

The place seemed so open and empty. I walked down the hall to the first room and opened the door.

"Wow..." I was amazed at what I saw.

The walls were painted in blue and black zebra print and the bed was a king size with black sheets and blue blankets.

"Damn you know how to decorate don't you?" I laughed then stripped down to my bra and underwear and thought about unpacking later.

Staring at the wall I realized how much I missed Jeremy and felt guilty for not having time to call him back. It didn't feel like a lot of time had passed when I woke up. Turning over I could smell Jeremy next to me.

"Morning," I whispered and snuggled closer to him and fall back asleep. "You better go before my mom gets home and finds us," I groaned.

Jeremy pulled me closer, "Val, we're at Sanctuary."

My eyes went wide open and my legs frantically moved to get back. "What are you doing here? How did you get here? If Adam finds you…he'll kill you and I don't even think he likes me anyways…so he'll kill both of us."

Jeremy started to laugh, "relax little pup, I live here and you're in our bed."

My brow rose, "no…you live not far from my house, right?"

He shook his head, "remember that secret I told you about before? We'll we are more alike than you thought. Adam says I'm a psionic telepath, I can read your thoughts and change them if I'd like to, can also...'speak to your mind' and alter memories. Strange isn't it? Adam brought me here last month; he had sworn me to secrecy."

I couldn't believe this, but what he described sounded familiar. Adam had given me a short course in all of the different types of these mutants, but all this time he had been living here and also that he had these strange abilities that I knew nothing about.

"You decorated this room for me didn't you? Wait…Did you know even before I told you about my abilities?"

To my relief he shook his head no, "Adam didn't tell me, but I asked him about it after you did and he said he planned on bringing you in to join the team."

I got up and started to dress, "team? What team?"

Jeremy explained to me the team that Adam called Mutant X 1.0, "There are two of us now and Adam is going to bring in another chick named Lexa or something. He wants us to fight back against Eckhart and prevent him from capturing other mutants and also to help those who don't have control of their abilities yet."

Once we finished dressing, we met Adam at the dojo, the place he said my training would start.

"I see you two have gotten all caught up. Now Miss Prescott, Jeremy here is going to help you with your first day of training. These exercises will maximize your potential as well as help you to release any tension in a controlled environment," Adam said walking over to us.

We then walked up the large set of stairs to the dojo and waited instruction.

"You two are going to fight against each other, Jeremy you know the routine...Valerie you are going to use your strength and it will take quick decisions as to how to take your enemy down before he has a chance to get to you. Now Jeremy is a psionic, in which you would need to dodge his psionic blasts with your agility. Good luck." Adam took a seat to observe.

I laughed looking at Jeremy, "I have to fight you? You've got to be joking…I could take your ass down in my sleep."

He grinned and I watched a purple glow form at the center of his forehead.

"What the hell is that?" Then it started to come at me.

After I ducked out of the way he answered, "A psionic blast."

"Oh...so that's what those look like...good to know, now then...to business I suppose."

I delivered my first punch to his gut and at the same time kicked his knee bringing him down to the ground, but of course I couldn't stop there. My eyes caught the glimpse of a scar on the left side of his chest.

"Never seen that before…"

He looked at me, 'I'll tell you later.'

I winced hearing the loud voice of his in my mind. Then he quickly rolled us over and punched me in the mouth, only making me more angered.

To retaliate I kneed him in the groin then jumped up and kicked his stomach till he hit the side of the dojo. Jeremy groaned sliding down to the ground, my eyes were flashed, I could tell because everything looked different and I could see the blood trailing on the floor.

"Get up and fight me," I growled and kicked him hard again in agitation.

"Adam… stop her!" he shouted seeing I wasn't in control.

But I turned around and set my sights on him, "yeah Adam…try and stop me, I dare you."

I laughed seeing him get into some strange fighting position, "what's that? You think you're Jackie Chan or something now?"

Then suddenly I was blinded by a bright flash that appeared, backing up I found myself a chair and sat down. With my eyes closed I started to calm down and I heard the clicking of heels come towards me. When I opened my eyes a woman with dark hair looked down at me.

"Lexa Pierce…and you must be Valerie."

Just from her tone I could already tell we wouldn't be getting along.

Afterwards I really couldn't tell you how many times I apologized to Jeremy. He said it was okay and that he was fine, but I didn't believe him. So here I was back in Adam's creepy lab, sparking once again my deep fear of the doctors and hospital like feel.

"Sorry Adam, I got carried away, I-"

He interrupted me, "don't be sorry; just be glad no one got seriously hurt. Now I'm trying to find a way to stabilize your mutation, that should give you more control, but until then you're going to need to gain the control on your own."

I got up from the chair, "How am I going to do that?"

"With simulations, training against them until you're ready to train with Jeremy or Lexa." The name caught my attention, "oh yeah, who is this Lexa? How are we supposed to know she's not one of them?"

Adam seemed a tiny bit shocked by my defenses. "Don't worry, she has a military background of sorts, but has been living on her own with brother until he took off. She's heard of me and has come to me to help others and hopes to also help her brother who is a mutant. She is an elemental molecular, the ability to create lasers as well as bursts of light, like you have already seen and can become invisible with the use of refracting light."

I nodded, "Ah, guess we'll see how that goes."

I left the lab and headed back to the room to see how Jeremy was and also to find out about that scar.


	5. Chapter 5: Past Consequences

Chapter 5: Past Consequences

I went into our room to find him making the bed; one of Adam's strict rules was a clean house, and that's what this was, his house. Once he finished I laid down on it, he shook his head then joined me.

"You were going to tell me about the scar..." I reminded.

He gave a reluctant sigh and closed his eyes, "Adam saved me from the GSA, Genomex. He was in charge of my "treatments" while I was held there. He told me what they were doing was wrong and that he was going to get me out. So he did and I didn't complain. While I went back to school, he built Sanctuary. In school I just couldn't adjust, started failing al my classes and ditching. Ended up losing my job and I was scared to tell Adam, my parents of course didn't care, they were always leaving on trips. I started using my abilities to get cash, better grades, girls…When Adam found out" he paused, "It wasn't pretty. By that time Sanctuary was finished and he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. It was the wrong time to piss him off that's for damn sure. A couple of guys were at the house and we were drinking and having a good time when Adam arrived. He told them all to leave and then took me to Sanctuary. Hell, I was so damn drunk I don't even remember the car ride there, only that he didn't shut up for one second." Jeremy looked at me. "Once we got here he said there would be a punishment for what I did. Adam locked me in the dojo and these simulations of people started attacking me, instead of going to class and learning how to defend myself, I ditched and Adam knew this. To keep it short I got the crap beaten out of me. This scar was from one of them, but after that we came to an agreement and he helped me."

I was shocked, "He let those things hurt you like that?"

Jeremy nodded, "he took notes and ate lunch while I tried to fight back even though more appeared."

After hearing this part of Adam I started to hate him, even though Jeremy had made some mistake, I didn't think it was right for him to lock him in like that and get attacked.

"I love you Valerie," he whispered to me.

I looked up, "love you too."

Things didn't stay that lovely for very long. Today marked the day of being a team for three months, there was hardly any time for celebration or any happiness. Truth was we were all at wits end with each other. Jeremy's cockiness and lack of rational thinking had almost gotten a feral we were trying to save killed. After that Adam never seemed in a mood to talk and we did our best to keep out of his way.

In hopes to ending the strain on everyone I broke up with Jeremy, it was the hardest thing too because I still loved him, but I just couldn't take his anger and we fought almost every night.

Things went back to normal for a while…we built some more safe houses and helped relocate those who had been discovered by Genomex. When at our last safe house for the night restocking its shelves, I noticed Jeremy giving Lexa a lot more attention than before. I honestly couldn't believe it…he was using her to make me jealous. I flew across the room to attack Jeremy, but Lexa had stopped me by blinding me and told me to go home. I didn't know what to say…quietly I left and went to bed early that night.

Around four in the morning however, I woke up hearing yelling from Lexa. She soon put the pieces together and discovered Jeremy was using her to get me upset. Doors slammed and then it was quiet once again; I wondered if that was enough to make Jeremy change back to how he used to be. Adam woke us up early at seven in the morning and called us down for a meeting.


	6. Chapter 6: Under Pressure

Chapter 6: Under Pressure

I dragged myself out of bed and sat down glaring at Adam, waiting for his good excuse for getting us all up so early. My eyes couldn't help looking over at Jeremy to see if I could tell his mood. There were a few things that got under my skin, one of them was not feeling accepted. To my disappointment he eyes stayed on Adam as he sat down. When I looked up at Adam I could tell he was frustrated in more ways than one; first of all none of us were talking to each other. Lexa kept her distance from Jeremy and he kept his distance from me and I knew now was not a good time to be around Lexa.

After a heavy sigh Adam began to speak, "this team needs to focus… now is not a good time for you three to be fighting over little matters. I have a mission for you three and it's very dire that we successfully complete it. My sources tell me that Eckhart is hot on the trail of engineering mutants with the ability to heal themselves from any wound. Cell regeneration...this could mean an unstoppable mutant, even from the most serious of wounds. I need you three to break into the lab and retrieve all of his research on this, because in the hands of Mason Eckhart this could mean world domination… imagine a military force with these cells in their body; missing arms, legs, bullet wounds etc would heal themselves or re-grow limbs in such cases. I didn't think it was possible to find that strain of DNA that contained the codes for the production of these kinds of cells. It's going to be one of your most dangerous missions yet, breaking into Genomex is not one of the easiest of tasks. You will need to communicate effectively with each other and stick to a plan. Here are the blue prints of the facility," he pointed on a screen, "two of you will go inside from here…while another has the task of getting the information and will enter through the basement, which has a small window here. Valerie that will be your job, since you're feral senses can detect if anyone is coming before Lexa and Jeremy arrive. Once you two meet it will be your job to make sure Valerie isn't suspected." Adam felt the bridge of his nose, "If I had a choice…I wouldn't send you on this mission because of how things are right now…but you must understand the importance of this and learn to work together on this, then you may go back to your silly silent treatments and bickering, alright?"

I nodded to him and watched the others do the same. Adam had given us only an hour to prepare, probably to give things less time to get worse. After my shower and getting dressed I met the others by the Helix, that's when I realized how risky this really was and at the moment I didn't have any trust in Jeremy or Lexa to watch my back.

With a lab coat on and a fake badge ID, I slipped into the basement through the tiny window once the room had cleared out for a moment. Looking at my watch I noted the time and started looking around the room trying to picture the blue prints as well. I grabbed a clipboard from the table and walked out of the lab room and down the hall. A man smiled at me and I forced one back even though my lip was quivering a little in nervousness. There was no room to fuck up this time. Taking a deep breath I spotted the office of the scientist who was working on the project.

"I've found it..." I whispered into my comlink to Jeremy and Lexa, as well as Adam who listened in from the Helix.

I stood observing something while I waited for their response, but heard none. Turning around I looked for them but didn't see either of them. I knew they couldn't have been caught because an alarm would have surely been pulled.

"Valerie… Jeremy's gone, he took off," I heard Lexa say finally in response.

"I need you here now..." I said back and went into the office and started working quickly. "Damn you Jer," I whispered transferring the file onto a disk and then crashing the system, it was the only way to be sure it was gone. As soon as it did the alarms did go off and I realized the door to the office locked to keep me from escaping.

"Lex...I'm trapped."


	7. Chapter 7: Parting Ways

Chapter 7: Parting Ways

I was more than ready to fight my way out of Genomex, even without Jeremy by my side. When the agents got there the doors opened and the game had begun. It started off easy, picking them off as they came within a two foot range of me. When I heard Lexa finally get there I was a bit relieved. I quickly handed her the disk behind my back and she slipped it into her pocket.

"We've gotta leave now!" She told me and was right, more agents were coming and we wouldn't stand a chance against an army.

Without Adam's help we would have never made it out, he cleverly created a simulation of himself to appear to the agents. That took away their attention from us to him, allowing us to run out to the helix through the window I came in at. Once the Helix was in the air I noticed Jeremy wasn't there either.

"Where the hell is Jeremy? I need to kick his ass for leaving us back there!"

Adam started shaking his head and Lexa just looked away from me.

"What? What are you not telling me here?"

Adam looked over at me, "he quit Valerie, and he gave his comlink to Lexa and just left." "Oh…" There wasn't much to say, part of me wanted to go track him down and bring him back.

When we got back to Sanctuary I found plane ticket receipts; he planned to do this today, mission or not. As I walked around the place it didn't seem the same, so empty without that one more person. Adam was barely talking; he seemed to take responsibility for Jeremy wanting to leave, and he even seemed to have almost forgotten about the disk we had stolen for him.

Lexa came in my room a few times to check on me; she even apologized for the other night, explaining she didn't know Jeremy was trying to hurt me. After talking for a few hours we decided that the team wouldn't work with just the two of us and that we should go our separate ways. Neither of us wanted to tell Adam this.

Lightly I knocked on his bedroom door. The door opened sooner than I had expected. Adam greeted me with a smile, making something in my stomach turn knowing what I was going to tell him. I looked around the room and realized that this had been the first time I had ever seen Adam's room. It was nice and extremely classy; I smiled wondering if Adam had a thing for interior decorating.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked me then told me to have a seat.

"Uhm…I'm not sure what you'd call it actually." I started to say but back tracked first. "Adam I don't think I've ever thanked you for what you've done for me," I stood up and gave him a hug.

He seemed speechless at first but returned the hug, "And you've done so much for me, you three have put yourselves on the line for me so many times when you didn't have to."

I stayed quiet for a moment but it seemed as though Adam was reading my mind. "You've come to tell me that you and Lexa are thinking about leaving as well?"

I looked at him a little shocked.

"I had a feeling if one of you left the others would follow. But I understand that the two of you don't make much of a team anymore."

Against my will I started to break down, "I really hate telling you this because I know how much you care about us, and Sanctuary is so huge! I can't imagine you staying in this place day after day all by yourself. Adam you've been like a father to me and part of me just wants to leave and I don't understand why."

He hugged me this time and started to rub my back to calm me, "it's okay, and you don't need to be worrying about me, alright? You need to be concerned with yourself, and if part of you wants to move on, then do so. You three staying here was not a permanent thing, I know. I'll make you two some new identities and make all the arrangements for you, so that none of our enemies are able to find you."

I sighed in relief, "Sounds interesting…"


	8. Chapter 8: An Old Enemy

Chapter 8: An Old Enemy

Seven Years Later

These groceries were heavy, but it was funny to see the looks on others faces as I was able to carry what most women couldn't. Up three flights of stairs was my apartment; there was an elevator of course but it was always out of service in the old building. Walking down the hall I sensed something wasn't right and flashed my eyes. When I got to my door I saw it was opened, so I sat down the bags I had in my hand and walked in knowing someone was still there.

Looking across my apartment I saw that white haired man again...the same one I had fought against in the past, had stolen the disk from, and even saw at my house before Adam found me.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded to know before I jumped over the furniture to grab his neck, "leave…or I throw you out," I held him by the window.

An agent jumped out ready to fight along with another.

"I want nothing to do with you...or your company," I said letting go of Mason's neck then jumped out the window into the back of a truck three stories down.

The landing was a little rough but it gave me the advantage I needed. Once the truck stopped at a light I jumped off it and realized I had nothing, no extra clothes or a place to stay. If I wanted to escape Mason Eckhart I could never go back to that place again and my old house was out of the question as well since he knew where that was too.

My foot kicked a metal trash can; I just couldn't understand how he found me. The apartment I rented was even under a fake name. I took out my cell phone then and started calling up some friends, telling them my place got robbed and I needed a place to stay for a while. Only one friend came through for me and gave the directions to her house. I didn't have to play the part of a victim, because seeing Eckhart at my apartment seven years after quitting Mutant X 1.0 was enough to get me shaken up.

That night I made my bed on the couch and thanked Sarah for letting me stay at her house. Even though I still was in paranoid mode, I managed to find sleep at around one in the morning. But sleep didn't last long as I heard footsteps from behind the couch.

"Now!" I heard someone whisper then opened my eyes to see a gun pointed at me and my eyes closed knowing this guy was going to shoot at me.

To my surprise it didn't shoot bullets, but a tranquilizer. I got up and pulled it out and tried to run out to the door and the men just started laughing. When I stumbled over my tired feet, I hit the ground. They laughed even more before picking me up and taking me out of the house.

When I woke up the surroundings were horribly familiar, this was the laboratory of Genomex under the charge of Mason Eckhart. I groaned and tried to move but my ankles and wrists were held down by metal cuffs.

"Leave me…alone."

Looking over I saw a young guy on the computer analyzing some type of structure, from what I knew of biology, I'd say it was my DNA. He was kind of cute, even as he turned in the chair towards me announcing to himself that I was awake, since I already knew that. I must have given him a confused look because then he started to explain why I was there.

"We're going to be good friends Miss Prescott. You thought you had escaped us back there yeah? Guess it's a good thing we tapped your cell phone, otherwise we wouldn't get a chance to formally meet. My name is Nicolas Olsen."

A smile formed on my face, "nice to finally meet you..."

Then I managed to spit on him once he came into range and I tried flashing my eyes but immediately stopped and screamed.

"Ah, that little devil there is the sub dermal governor. It's made to prevent you from using your abilities."

I was still gasping in pain as he finished.

"Don't worry little puppy, we're going to take care of you just fine. When we're done with you, you will have a whole new life with the GSA," he then got up and left the room.

Being back in this lab made me miss Lexa, Adam, and even Jeremy. When I moved my neck I could feel the device placed on my spinal cord and started to curse that I hadn't thought of the cell phone tapping.


	9. Chapter 9: The Animal I've Become

Chapter 9: The Animal I've Become

Nick came back a few hours later with something in his hand. I started to squirm wanting to run away; I could sense it was trouble.

"You don't have to do this…please, I just want to go home," I spoke softly.

He set down what he held, "Oh but I do, and when this serum works I will be praised by Eckhart."

I bit my tongue and felt a tear fall; I wanted Adam, I was so scared of what this guy was going to do and there was no way I could stop him. Nick added something from the bag to my IV. He took a seat with his clipboard and stared at me.

My body started to shake in fear and my stomach turned around making feel sick. I tried to fight whatever was attacking me but it only got stronger. Looking down I noticed the source of the pain, my bones looked like they were breaking and a crunching, I started to scream.

"STOP IT!" I yelled panicking as I felt the change starting to spread through-out my body.

The skin on my body started to feel rough, dry and itchy...with my hands still locked down I couldn't scratch and squirmed around more.

Nick was furiously taking down notes and providing me with no explanation for what was going on to me. I tried to speak, but no words came out…only whimpers. Nick cursed a little and got up to tighten the restraints, when I looked I saw why…my wrists were getting thinner and...furry? The itching on my arms stopped once they were covered in short gray fur and then I realized what Mr. Olsen hoped to achieve. His serum was made for ferals to take whatever animal spliced DNA I had and blend it with something he wouldn't explain. What scared me now was the thought that I'd never be human again. Once my body finished changing into a gray wolf I started to feel the mind of the wolf colliding with my own. It wanted freedom...it wanted food…and it wanted a mate.

From my perspective, Nick appeared to be an extremely happy man. Soon after, many other scientists came in to see me and he played for them the video had recorded of my transformation as his proof, while I had dreams of tearing their flesh from their bones. Then they moved me to a cell, where I paced back and forth fighting for control of this animal inside my head.

After two days of this, Nick came in along with other men. Three of them held me down while they muzzled me and then took me to some location outside of Genomex. I tried scenting them by rubbing my body against them, the wolf loved it but I fought back and stopped it from continuing. When the van stopped and doors opened I realized were in the forest. My tail wagged at the excitement and the smells of fresh meat out there for me to hunt. Nick took off my muzzle and let me go…he wanted to take note of how I behaved in a wolf's natural environment and how other wolves would respond to me.

Quickly I took off to enjoy my new freedom and discover what food was out in these woods. It didn't take me long until I found a doe eating grass in a clearing. For this hunt I let the wolf take over, since I knew nothing of how to stalk an animal and to kill...but I did pay close attention. As my teeth sank into the doe's neck I felt powerful, after shaking it the doe dropped from my jaws and I howled my victory. Half way through my fresh first meal I felt others approaching me; their scents were familiar yet unfamiliar to me.

Turning around I saw pack of wolves watching me from a distance. One large wolf started walking towards me, my head lowered and I became submissive knowing this was the alpha wolf and I was hunting on his land without permission. He started snarling at me, and I tried scooting away from him but he charged after me and snapped his jaw on my neck. When I yelped I heard the agents moving in quickly to rescue to me...at least that's what I thought, but I couldn't make out the voice that was calling my name. I heard a shot and felt the grip that the wolf had my neck release and I fell over…I thought for sure this was it, all that danger I ever faced...all those enemies I had…and my demise was made by wild wolf.


	10. Chapter 10: Strange Awakening

Chapter 10: Strange Awakening

A train…it must have come and broken my bones into tiny pieces, cause at the moment that's exactly how I felt. Even through all the pain I could feel the cold cement under me and smell fresh meat being prepared somewhere close, but my stomach couldn't handle that and I threw up with my eyes still kept closed...I was afraid to see what was coming from my stomach. Suddenly I realized that my body was human, it seemed a little strange to be happy that was human. As I laid there I sensed I was in a familiar place, and it wasn't Genomex.

"Adam?" I spoke, but my own voice sounded low in tone and foreign to my ears.

A man came into the room just then; my nose detected a younger scent with a hint of lemon scented shampoo.

"He's resting, you gave him quite the fight when he brought you here," the man said to me sitting down.

"Who…are you?" I groaned and leaned up against a wall and started to open my eyes. That's when I noticed I was in a cell, in what looked like a basement.

"Brennan Mulwray, I work with Adam…he's already told me about you. He saved you back there from Genomex. Also he said you might not remember what happened."

My eyes watched as he talked; my mind struggled to pay attention to him and not the pain of my twisted stomach and sore arms and legs.

"Brennan…can you…tell me what happened?" My question made him relax back into his chair.

"Sure…Well you see, Jesse had been going through files on the mutant database and Adam had him running checks on mutants. These checks consist of missing reports, police reports and looking for suspicious activity. It appears a friend of yours reported you missing a few days ago, so your name came up on the list. Adam took a real interest in your case and neglected to tell us why at first. But Jesse found your complete file and it showed that there was a team before us, Mutant X 1.0? And you were one of them." He paused a moment then continued, "When Adam discovered Genomex had you I thought he was going to flip out. He wanted to get you out of there as soon as possible and he did. While Eckhart's men were busy being attacked by wild wolves after they shot the alpha, he carried you away. With a healing pen he started to heal your wounds so you'd make it back to Sanctuary. Using the large scanner he was able to heal the rest just fine. Then Emma was able to get inside your head and discover a trigger that allowed you changed back into a human form; Adam said any longer and you would have been stuck as a wolf."

I found myself feeling my neck were that wolf had me in his jaws. I couldn't believe it was all healed, like magic.

"But once you had recovered your mind was still confused as to what species you were...man or wolf. You attacked Adam as he was running some tests, luckily I had walked by and Adam told me to sedate you. You got him pretty good on the shoulder. Adam has been up for days, which is why he's resting now with the help of a blast from Emma."

"Wow…" was all I could really think of to say. "Who's Jesse? And Emma? They live here to?" I was a bit confused as to why these other people were staying with Adam.

Brennan gave a small laugh, "yeah…I guess I should have explained that too. We are a part of what you could call Adam's second shot of making a Mutant X team. There is Jesse, he's a molecular, Emma a psionic, Shalimar a feral, like yourself but feline and I'm an elemental." Brennan created a tesla coil to show off.

"Nice," I tried to smile back to him and let out a heavy sigh, "How much longer you think I have to stay in here?"

Brennan just shrugged, "I have no idea, I think only Adam knows that answer, sorry. Actually…" he checked his watched, "I'm going to tell him you're up." Brennan had gotten up and went out sliding doors that lead to stairs.

When he had left I whined in pain and slid back down on the ground to curl up, it seemed to hurt less when I had done that. I hoped that Adam was going to tell me how he could reverse this….I didn't want animal inside my head like this.


	11. Chapter 11: Training Day

Chapter 11: Training Day

Never had I felt so alone and confused. My eyes looked toward the entrance waiting to see Adam walk through those doors. Quickly my patience started to wear down. The animal didn't like being in a cage and I started to panic. First I tried prying the bars apart but they were too strong, and too close together for me to slip between.

"Damn you Adam for being a genius," I sighed.

When Adam came in he looked just about the same as he did seven years ago, except with bags under his eyes and a very weak shoulder, I could tell by the way he treated it.

"Adam, finally," I leaned against the bars, "You can't keep me in here, I need out…now."

He noticed my hands were shaking; Adam shook his head no, "you and I both know how dangerous that could be. The safest place for you right now is there."

He took a seat and was watching me.

I groaned and kicked a hole in the back wall of my cell.

"Do you know what's going on here? 'Cause I'd really like to know," I asked in a sarcastic tone.

At that he leaned in some and hid his face with his hands, his classic look of frustration.

"He attempted to mix your feral canine spliced DNA with the molecular ability to change human form. The end result being…well more animal than human; a feral that can actually go between being an animal and human."

I turned to him, "I remember some of it; it felt like I was just watching this all happen. I had no control over it. How did you fix it?"

He nodded and I could tell he was keeping a mental note of what I said.

"Ah, Emma, she's a psionic and was able to connect to you. She said it takes concentration and the will to be human for it to work, something you are going to need to work on. Valerie you can't let the animal be in control any longer like that, you could run the risk of permanently becoming that animal."

As he got up and walked closer I could smell another feral's scent on him. My eyes flashed at him and he instantly backed away, something he had never done towards me before. It made me wonder if it had to do with what I had done to him earlier.

"You smell…" I growled and I got a strange look at first but then he realized what I had meant.

"Oh, you smell Shalimar. She lives here with the others…Brennan said he told you."

I took a few steps back and leaned against the wall and nodded.

"So…what now?" My voice felt a little cracked; things had changed so fast none of this felt very real.

Adam went to a tray and hid something from my view, "the dojo, I think you're more ready than I thought…so I can monitor you from there as well as help you learn control again. Now, either I sedate you, or you calmly walk to the dojo on your own, but with me of course. Don't worry about the others, they aren't here, they left on an errand. Think you can do it?"

I was shocked that he was giving me a choice. My fear of needles was the decision maker.

"I'll walk."

He nodded and proceeded to open the cell putting the syringe into his pocket.

I managed to stay on my best behavior as we walked up the stairs to the more familiar part of Sanctuary. Slowly I walked up the stairs of the dojo while Adam stayed below.

"Uhm, I'm not sure about this anymore," I said after starting to get nervous about being trapped in the dojo.

Adam tried to assure me, "don't worry Val, you're doing the right thing here. With no control you are danger to everyone and yourself."

Once I got into the dojo I noticed the force field had gone up so I couldn't leave, and no one could enter. Adam explained that there would be different levels of tests for me to learn to control these new feelings and impulses.

A woman with blonde hair appeared at the other side of the dojo, she introduced herself as Shalimar. I could smell her powerful dominating feral scent, the same scent I caught on Brennan and Adam and all through-out Sanctuary. I growled, warning her not to come any closer but she ignored it. Once she came closer I attacked and jumped at her pinning her down to the ground, I could faintly hear Adam yelling at me. Then she disappeared from under me and I was back down on the floor.

I looked down to Adam and he had a disappointed look on his face.

"Control…you've got to try to think before you act. Do you want to kill people? There is only so much I can do; it's really up to you to make it happen."


	12. Chapter 12: What's Gained is Lost

What's Gained is Lost

Learning to control myself didn't happen overnight, more like two months of hard training. The only time I didn't train was to either sleep or eat dinner. A few times I even fell asleep in the dojo, luckily someone always found me and I'd wake up in bed the next day. One day I realized how much I had missed living on my own and going out. With Adam's approval I set up at a safe house and found a job. Even though I had become friends with the others at Sanctuary, I really wanted to go back to being more independent and normal as I could be.

My first week of work seemed alright; Adam got me a job at a diner that most new comers in town came to eat at. It was fascinating to hear all their crazy stories and reasons for coming into town. On Saturday nights I went and visited my old pal Raphael at the club he owned. I think I surprised him the first night I went back there. There was a lot of understanding between us since we were both feral, he being reptilus cobra Things were going better than I thought they could ever be, so I should have expected bad news to come way soon. I had been working now for a month and was just getting off my shift when two city police officers came inside.

"Are you Valerie Prescott?" one of them asked me.

"Yeah," I said not sure what these guys would want with me.

"We need your help; can you please come with us?"

I shook my head, "help with what? I have an early shift tomorrow and I need to go to bed."

The other officer sighed, "You are the next of kin. Your parents were murdered…but don't worry the man has been caught."

My jaw dropped open, "My…parents? Are dead?" I went with them to the hospital and down to the morgue in the basement.

After waiting a few minutes they allowed me into the cold room. There were two bodies covered with a blue sheet in the center of the room on tables. I paused not sure if I could do this. It had been so long since I had seen them and I could remember that last time I had talked to them, it was after my first mission with Lexa and Jeremy and I had called them to tell them things were going good and that I missed them. But it ended in an argument because they wanted me home now that I was okay, and I didn't want to go. So now here I was. I went to the first covered body and lifted the sheet back. I frowned, it was my father. He looked a lot older than I remembered more gray hair and a beard. I stared at him for a few moments half expecting him to wake up at any moment and ask if I wanted ice crème; but he didn't. My nose started to get become stuffy and my eyes had built up with tears in every corner. Then looked over and pulled back the other sheet to see my mother. Her eye was badly bruised and had a lot of cuts on her face as well with a gunshot wound to the chest. I covered my face with my hands; I was now without a family. Even if we had our differences these past few years fighting I still felt this large hole form, and I realized I'd never get a chance to apologize for being a such a stubborn brat to them.

I left the morgue and started making arrangements for their burial, there would be no ceremony…mostly because there wouldn't be anyone to invite. I didn't tell my boss or anyone else of what happened to me that week, just called in sick since it seemed I really was sick being that I didn't have the urge to get out of bed. I tried hard to get back into my carefree happy go lucky mood but it just didn't seem to pull through. Once I had the will power to get myself out of bed my head throbbed like a clan of trolls were digging picks into my head. I dragged myself to the shower and washed up and put on some clean clothes. When I got to the kitchen I realized the date on the clock said the 10th…had I really slept for two days straight? I went in to work and found out from another manager that I had been fired for not calling in and over using my sick days. That really did it, the icing on my double layer cake. I wanted to just crawl into a ball and forget what was going on all around.


	13. Chapter 13: Crash Landing

Chapter 13: Crash Landing

"Outta my fucking house!" he yelled while throwing books from some shelf at me.

At that moment I couldn't really remember why he was so mad, but long scratches on his arms and chest told the story. The night before Justin was having a party and I must have gotten carried away with the drugs and the alcohol his friends had brought over. Ever since meeting Justin three weeks ago I became addicted and living with him only made things worse, but at the time I didn't realize it…in fact I was in total denial.

When Raphael was out of town I took that time to quit, so he wouldn't be there to ask questions; I thought quitting the club would help. So as I left Justin's house I could only imagine what he must have seen, his girlfriend change into a wolf, at this point I didn't care if he tipped off Genomex because once again I had failed Adam with my attack on Justin. It took me some time, but I made it back to the safe house with nothing in hand and passed out in my old bed and slept through what was left of the day and the whole night.

I woke up groggy. My feral senses picked up on the presence of someone else in my room. I opened my eyes and saw Adam staring me in a chair,

"Oh shit…" I muttered and turned around in my bed, "go away."

Adam cleared his throat, "I can't do that Valerie, but if that's how you feel you can leave my safe house."

I turned around and looked at him, "What do you want then?"

He rolled closer to me in the chair. "Well I decided to do a check on you and found out you got fired from the job I put you at, then left the safe house and today came back after a month?"

I started to sit up, "Alright Mr. know-it-all, they fired me for taking some days off. I got sick, I'm sure your tattle tale informed you of that."

I didn't want him to know about my parents; I didn't want his sympathy but also didn't want him angry and Adam started to get up, he didn't look happy.

"Okay wait wait, I met a guy at a new job I had and that's where I was."

Adam sat back down and nodded, "so why are you here?"

I rolled my eyes, "What do you think? It didn't work out, he kicked me out."

I could see Adam didn't trust my story and he called in a guy named Jake who was most likely a psionic. My eyes closed as I watched him search through my mind and show Adam everything he wanted to know.

"I hope you're fucking proud of yourself!"

I yelled at the psionic and pulled up the covers to get out of bed, but something came over me and I was no longer in the safe house. I was back in the basement, where my parents were waiting. Looking down I saw my father again, I screamed so loud that it brought me back to the safe house.

"What the hell just happened?" I looked at the two of them staring at me.

"Jake here says you just had a flashback."

I raised a brow, "Oh….right, that's normal."

The expression of disappointment was still on Adam's face, "no, it's not normal and you need to start taking care of yourself again."

I growled back, "why should I bother? I think I proved it more than enough times I can't be normal enough, have a nice job and lots of friends or meet a trusting guy. It's just not possible Adam, why don't you understand that?"

Adam nodded and asked Jake to leave the room. He held out in his hand my old comlink ring, "which is why I'm going to make you an offer. Clean up your act and you can join my new team. But if during anytime you don't keep to my expectations I will send you away."

I was amazed by his offer; I didn't think Adam would ever trust me enough to have me on his team after leaving him last time.

"Are you sure? No lie right?"

He gave a short laugh, "When have I ever lied? Or had a reason to? Lexa has rejoined as well, I was gone for a while and she came in. We've also lost Emma, you remember her right?"

I could tell he was a little shady about it, but after hearing Emma was gone I figured it wasn't the best time to ask questions, besides I didn't like that bitch anyways.

"Alright, anything to get to kick some ass again," I smiled and shook his hand and we went back to Sanctuary. My home and to my new family.


	14. Chapter 14: Recovery and To the Wild

Chapter 14: Recovery and To the Wild

There was a knock at the door, "eh?" I managed to answer from underneath the covers. "Brought you some dinner," I heard Jesse say.

"Come in," and slowly he opened the door and turned on the light. My eyes squinted as I sat up. Jesse sat the tray down and took a seat in my purple fuzzy chair.

"You don't have to stay you know…" I mumbled kind of wanting to be alone, one of the reasons I hadn't left my room since getting there. It had also been a while since I looked in the mirror, but I knew I must have looked bad. Jesse stayed put though and looked up at me and watched me eat.

After finishing my salad I sighed, "what do you want?"

He shook his head, "nothing, just wanted to see how you were."

"Adam sent you..."

"No, no he didn't."

The chicken he brought was just the right temperature and had a nice sauce.

"This is good."

He smiled, "thanks."

"I didn't know you could cook Jess."

He shrugged, "I had this nanny when I was growing up, and she taught me some things." When I finished I put the tray back on the small table.

"I feel like crap," I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in and let it out.

"Adam says whenever you're ready he's got a mission for us."

"I don't know if I can do it Jess, I mean I'm out of shape, probably can't even clear a small fence," I whined.

He stood up, "well I guess it's time you got out of bed and worked out."

I glared at him but he was right, I pushed back the heavy blankets and got up. Jesse gave me a startled look.

"Val when was the last time you ate?"

"Uhm, I don't know...yesterday? Shalimar brought me breakfast think…or was it Lexa?"

He opened the door for me and told me to go to the lab. I felt a little uncomfortable knowing I hadn't had a shower today. When I got to the lab I laid in the chair and felt cold. Jesse had already left to go get Adam to check me out so I waited.

Adam talked a lot and I tried to listen, seriously I did, but probably only understood half of it. He said I needed to slowly start eating more again and I agreed...I mean it's not like I didn't want to eat before, I just didn't feel like getting it myself. I explained that to him and Adam got kind of angry because he said I should have told him.

"Yeah…I know…but I didn't," my shoulders sank and I turned away from him.

While he planned out my diet Adam also added that I wouldn't be ready in time to go on this mission he had planned. I sorta figured that would of have been the case anyways but I didn't mention that.

A month from that day Shalimar, Brennan and Jesse left in the helix for a long flight to New Orleans to retrieve some chemical based powder that Adam was interested in testing. It was just me and Lexa there with Adam, it kinda felt like old times us hanging out with the exception of Jeremy not being there.

That night I started training again since Adam said I was finally at a healthy weight and back to normal, which was great because I really was itching to get back into the dojo and even use some Brennan's weights while he wasn't there.

When the three of them came back to Sanctuary after their trip something was different. It was obvious that Brennan and Jesse weren't getting along and that was due to the large black eye Jesse came off the helix with. The only one who really knew what happened was them, since they didn't want to talk about it, but I think Adam found out from Shalimar.

The next day the fighting between them still didn't stop so Adam took it upon himself to try and get everyone to get along…his solution? He told us to pack our stuff and put us all on the helix and sent us to this forest that was pretty far away from Sanctuary. Down there in the thick brush was a small house.

"He can't be serious…" I sighed feeling angry that Adam sent us all here and not just Jesse and Brennan, since they were the one's fighting.

Once our things were off the helix it flew back home and we were now forced to live very close to each other. I unpacked my things, luckily I had my own room since Shalimar and Brennan shared a room and Lexa and Jesse shared a room.

There were rules of course, and Jesse broke the first one…he was trying to turn on a computer that was in the house, even though Adam gave specific orders not to. Once he did the whole place went under lock down, let's just say no one was happy and he spent the night on the couch.

The next day we were instructed to leave the house and journey back to Sanctuary. No one was happy about being in the jungle. Hunting for food was fun, but for some reason I didn't feel that good and wondered if I was getting sick.

All of us spent the first night in a cave we found and things were still pretty quiet. I slept okay since I wasn't too picky about sleeping on the ground. When morning came I felt someone's warm skin next to me. I groaned a little as I woke and felt him pull me closer. I smiled feeling him hard against me.

"Mmmm Jer" I opened my eyes to see it wasn't Jeremy, but Brennan. I jerked away in shock, "Brennan!" He was just as surprised and I could tell he was confused, "What are you doing in my sleeping bag?" I asked still upset and a little disappointed that it wasn't Jeremy. "And...Put your clothes back on!" I whispered and grabbed mine as well and dressed inside the bag as did he.

"I thought you were Shalimar," he repeated and I could see the anger and pain in Shal's face.

Now there was even more tension among us. I was quickly secluded amongst the others. Lexa and Jesse seemed to have made up after their fight and Brennan was leading while Shalimar had her arms still folded in anger.

It was now night five on our journey together, clouds had been moving in and they threatened rain. I was put in charge of finding dinner once again and I left my things at camp and started my hunt on the trail of a deer my nose detected. As I started move in I was seen by another animal, a wolf came out from behind a bush and stared at me. It started to circle me. I took off running back to camp afraid, my instincts wanted me to stay and submit to him but I knew better. Once I knew he was no longer chasing me I tried hunting again. Two rabbits would have to do since my hunting time was up.

At camp the next day I realized the tension was tighter. Brennan was upset because the rain had started and he was afraid to go outside, he thought he'd lose control. It was also the reason we hadn't covered that much ground. After a fight between Shalimar and Brennan, he announced that he quit and took off his ring, one thing we weren't allowed to do, and if one did they were off the team.

It wasn't much later that we heard a helicopter coming closer. In a clearing it landed and it was Adam. All of us thought for sure he was there to take us all home, but when he ordered Brennan to come with him we knew then that Adam had been serious.

Shalimar was deeply hurt from what I could tell. But then he told me to pack my things as well. I didn't really understand why he was taking me too.

"No…I wanna be on the team! What the hell Adam? This isn't fair!"

Later on the helicopter Adam told me that he needed a feral to help Brennan, because he was going to drop us back off a few miles back and we'd have to journey back to the others. I wasn't surprised to hear that Adam wasn't going to let him quit.

Once Adam dropped us off, Brennan and I started collecting food from the house that we were at five days ago, that way we wouldn't have to hunt our own. When it started to rain again we had trouble finding shelter, I literally had to hold something over him until we made it to the first cave. I was terrified that Brennan was going to lose his cool, when I looked over at him as we had been walking, I noticed small sparks coming off of him. Adam was only giving us three days to accomplish what it had taken us five days to do, and if we didn't make it we'd be off the team.

The skies were finally clearing, "come on lets go."

He was sitting down on looked scared as hell, something I never thought I'd see in him.

I went over to him, "it's okay, nothing is going to happen to you I swear, you have control of this, you know that."

He shook his head looking at the ground, "no, I don't. I can't even take a shower anymore."

I frowned thinking back to what Eckhart had done to him; a few years back Mason had captured him and did numerous experiments on him with different charges of electricity and even submerged him in water.

"Try for me? Please? I just want to get there so we can go home," I begged.

That finally got him up and out of the cave. It seemed as though we had both put that one morning of confusion behind us, or we were both too embarrassed to talk about it. As we walked faster I couldn't help but look around, my feral instincts wanted me to run and play around, that I was finally home.

Camp was finally in our sights on the third day and everyone was surprised to see us back. The area was guarded heavily by some men hired by Adam to keep the others put. I went back into the cave with my things and decided I needed some rest while the others talked. Once again that annoying helicopter came back and that meant Adam had discovered we had managed to make it back. The only reason I had gotten up was because I thought for sure Adam was going to let us all come back to Sanctuary with him, but I would soon discover that was not the case.

I was detained and put on the helicopter with Adam and it headed back to Sanctuary…


	15. Chapter 15: Feral Lust

Chapter 15: Feral Lust

The first thing Adam wanted to do was a scan. I was aware of what was happening to me and so did he, because this was not the first time going through this "natural event".

"I was hoping this time we could catch the early signs, since I have been working on a way to stop it."

I must admit my cheeks were a bit pink in embarrassment as he talked. You see, the downside of being an "enhanced" feral was that during mating season I was not the one to be around. The first time this happened Adam sedated me until the worst of its effects were over, the second time he had to lock me in a cell in Sanctuary because the feral in me wanted a mate. It was so painful to go through that and he promised me that next time it wouldn't be as bad.

Adam sighed as he looked at the results, "I should have caught this earlier, when Brennan woke up in your sleeping bag."

I looked at him surprised, "you know about that!...Wait that was my fault?"

Now I felt kind of bad because I had blamed him for the whole thing, as well as getting him and Shalimar into a big fight.

Adam nodded, "well now it makes sense, he must have been picking up on the pheromones you were sending out."

"Oh...right...those," I whispered and looked over at him and took in his scent.

When he looked up I turned away quickly and went to sit up, he quickly told me to stay lying down.

"Alright...alright, sorry. Just a little antsy alright?" he frowned at me and scratched his neck in thought as he began to pace the lab. "Just sedate me, put me in the cell," I suggested but he rejected it.

An hour passed, Adam was on the phone a few times and going through different files. He was impossible to talk to so I fell asleep for a few minutes. When I woke up I found my arms and legs bound in cuffs to the lab chair.

"Whoa! What's this about?" I demanded.

Adam gave a strange look, "you don't remember hitting me on the head and trying to leave?"

My head shook an honest no and I growled frustrated even more about what was going on, "you said you would fix this! Just let me go," I twisted around feeling my body tingle all over. My eyes flashed in heat, "let me go now!"

He simply repeated no and tried to get back to this work.

"Then why can't you let me go?"

Adam took a seat giving up for a moment, "If I let you go…and you get pregnant there is a 60% chance you have a litter of puppies instead of a child. I was on the phone with a specialist in ferals and he gave me that information. That it depends on..."

I cut in, "EW! NO Adam that's fucking disgusting! There is no way in Hell I'm letting another animal within ten feet of me!" I shook my head in disgust.

"Well even so…because of your DNA there is a 60% chance and there also could be complications as well."

Now I was angered, "why are you telling me this now? Are you saying I might not ever be able to have children?"

I lifted up on my arms and legs and managed to loosen the cuffs. I smiled then and managed to break free of all of them and ran as fast I could out of the lab.

I headed to the hanger and started up the helix. When things were set I pushed the button to open the door, but nothing happened.

"ADAM!" I growled and turned around seeing him standing there outside the helix. I stomped my way out, "Open this door right now! Or I'll rip you to pieces!"

My threats seemed to mean little to him, but I wasn't giving up without a fight. Jumping up I pushed him back, pinning him down on the ground. With my claws coming out I tore the shirt from his body. There was no control anymore. The feral was now enjoying the feeling of dominance it had over Adam. I started shredding my clothes and that's when he realized he wasn't dealing with a straight thinking in control feral.

Using my claws I tried tearing off his pants, his scent was so heavy I just wanted him. But after making a move to get lower Adam fought back and I took off stumbling for a place to hide. The feral didn't move as gracefully on two legs and I stumbled over a small low to the ground table. There had to be a way out of this place, which was my goal. I howled for help in hopes of getting some response, but only heard Adam over an intercom trying to coax me into taking back control. Growling back I started to crawl to the lab where his scent was coming from. Suddenly I felt like I had hit a wall, in fact it was a force field wall Adam put up that trapped me in a box, I was now defeated.

I sat down and started whining, howling some more in need of freedom. Then I was shocked to see Shalimar come into Sanctuary helping Lexa walk to the lab while the two guys were close behind.

"Jesse!" I called out, "help me out, Adam has lost it! He locked me up in here and won't let me go."

To my advantage Adam was so busy treating Lexa for something that my plea worked and the barrier was gone after Jesse put in the password. Before they could ask about my lack of clothing I pinned Jesse down to the ground licking his neck to get a taste of him. But suddenly I was on the floor as Jesse phased and rolled away from me.

Confused and disappointed I turned to Brennan. My charms seemed to have worked on him back in the cave, so again I used my abilities of attraction. I got up and carefully walked to him licking my lips. He received me with open arms and a kiss; I smiled against his lips and heard Shalimar come out of the lab. She wasn't too happy and started yelling at Jesse that Adam had told them to stay away from me.

"Come on lets go somewhere a little more private," I suggested to him while nuzzling his neck.

Shalimar moved quickly to block our path, to my surprise Brennan shocked her, sending her backwards. Jesse went to help her and we made our escape to his room.

Locking the door it seemed sure they wouldn't be able to disturb us. As I walked back I found him already undressed and lying on the bed.

"Come here baby and lay down with me."

I laughed and crawled up the bed, kissing my way up his perfectly toned body. The urge was so strong that it seemed to be affecting him as well. He rolled us over and his eyes seemed darker.

"Not much time," I whispered hearing the two others coming to the locked door.

The feeling was incredible, but short lived. Jesse phased himself and Shalimar into Brennan's room. Shalimar fought in vain to separate us, but at this point I was the stronger feral. I growled at her in warning and that quickly changed into a howl as we both reached our climax.

Looking down at him I smiled then my expression turned to shock feeling something sharp hit me in the back. My eyes got heavy but I saw a dart hit Brennan as well. Things went black and I fell on top of him.

When I woke up I was instantly uncomfortable.

"Brennan….where's Brennan?" I mumbled.

"I sent him and Shalimar far away," Adam said moving toward me.

When I opened my eyes I realized what Adam had done…I was chained and all evidence of the passion Brennan and I shared earlier was sucked and cleaned out by machine.

"Noooo! Why! Adam why!" I screamed and cried feeling so empty.

"Calm down, you know why I did this…There is too much risk involved and Brennan is not your mate, Shalimar is devastated from what you've done to him."

I sighed, "I couldn't help it! I didn't really mean to do that to him…I just lost it."

Adam nodded, "I know, it's my fault. I should have done more to prevent this. I'm going to place you in your play area for now and I'll bring you some dinner. That seems to be the safest place for you right now."

I promised to stay on my best behavior and let Adam escort me to the play area that was mine. Adam had built it a few months ago as a birthday gift; it had toys, a nice dog bed and everything else a canine could need. The play area was a great place I could retreat to and change to be alone without needing to leave Sanctuary and risk getting hurt.

Now it seemed like it was going to be my prison. When he locked me in and left I just sat down and stared at my dog house; I wanted a family and Adam took that chance away from me.

An hour later Adam finally returned, but was carrying something and it wasn't dinner. Taking a deep breath in my nose detected a canine scent, a female. I got up onto my four legs and tilted my head at Adam. He placed the puppy into my playroom and locked the door quickly. Slowly I approached her, smelling her…she wasn't very old and wanted her mother. When I looked at Adam I understood that he was trying to make it up to me and this puppy would be mine to raise.

The puppy opened its eyes and started smelling me. I smiled as she called me mommy and laid down against me. Lying down next to her I started licking her, "my Lucy."

We snuggled some as Lucy asked me lots of questions once she got comfortable. Adam brought us some food and I attempted to explain what I was to her, since she didn't really understand what I was telling her…I decided to show her my change. It didn't really go well and she became afraid of me. Disappointed I changed back to not scare her anymore and laid down trying to go to sleep. My mind still wanted Brennan, the feel of his skin against mine and to fix what Adam had taken away from me, I didn't care about the risks anymore. Opening an eye I smiled feeling Lucy had curled up next to me to sleep, and then I felt calm enough to sleep.

My ears picked up the sound someone arriving at Sanctuary. Yawning I opened my eyes and carefully got up to not wake up Lucy as I investigated.

"Brennan!" I barked. Quickly I changed back before he came into view, "get me outta here…Adam is holding me here."

He started charging up, "I know, I came back as soon I could."

A smile came across my face, a little impressed by the longevity of the effect I had on him.

Once the door was open I rushed out and hugged him, "I missed you….and couldn't stop thinking about you."

We shared a long kiss before I heard Adam rushing to where we were.

"Take me out of here," I whispered to him and he took my hand as we ran towards the hanger. "Shit…."

I heard the sound of shot from behind me, "get down!" I said to him but he instead turned around to face me and got shot in the chest once again by a tranquilizer dart.

"NOOOO!" I cried out and flashed my eyes turning around to see Adam there holding the gun at me. "You fucking jerk! Why don't you just let us go!" I growled and jumped up onto a small table before flying at him.

I knew he could just shoot me and it would be all over but I was determined to get to him before he'd have a chance to fire. And I did.


	16. Chapter 16: Prison Life

Chapter 16: Prison Life

My claws got Adam in the face, but he got me with a tranquillizer at the same time. I took in the scent of his blood as I went to sleep.

When I woke I knew that I wasn't in Sanctuary anymore and the scent of blood was gone. My sense went a little crazy as they picked up on other ferals…hundreds of them in the area. As I looked around I was safe with three walls and what looked like a prison gate.

"You're going to get it this time Adam" I muttered.

Then I noticed someone was watching me, it was Jesse and Lexa was close behind him. I didn't blame them for being scared in a place like this.

"What? You enjoying this?" I spat then got up and walked over to them. "Tell Adam he's a fucking failure for sending me to this dump!"

Lexa started walking away, but Jesse still stood there looking away, "If you need someone to talk to…just use the comlink alright," he just said and walked away, it kind of made me regret sounding so harsh.

Sighing, I looked down the hall best I could, I saw them…coming for me. Moving to the back of my cell I waited to fight them, I wasn't going to let them touch me. My eyes flashed and pain coursed through my entire body.

I fell to the ground curling up into a ball, "stop" I gasped and I stopped flashing my eyes and it did. "How did you do that?" I asked after feeling no governor at the back of my neck.

The guard laughed seeing my confusion, "the new improved governor, surgically placed beneath the skin to your spinal cord." He picked me up to my feet and told me to walk.

Rolling my eyes I walked outside, rain was coming down in sheets, turning the ground to thick mud. It wasn't quite clear to me what they were going to have me do, but looking up from the ground I saw a guy; I licked my lips unconsciously, he was hot. I took a few steps closer; he was a feral canine and whined like a dog in need catching the scent I gave off. When he took a step closer my governor was activated, making me scream as I fought against the pain and continued walking closer to him. When the pain got to be too much I fell into the mud and it was turned off, but my body continued to shake. I quickly got back up to my feet and looked at the ground trying to get a hold of myself.

Soon after I was taken back to my cell, I wondered how long Adam was going to make me stay here, if he was going to just leave me here. My heart sank suddenly thinking of Lucy. Guess I was turning out to be a mad mother so far. Lying down on cold floor wasn't too bad, we were told to keep quiet.

I looked at my comlink ring, "Jess…how's Lucy?" I whispered.

"She's doing fine Val, how are you?"

I was sorta surprised he answered, "Uhm, good…" I said then added, "I don't like this place, and they implanted me with a governor. Did Adam say when I can come back?" I look around hoping the guards wouldn't me.

"No, he hasn't talk to anyone since…." His voice trailed off. There was some silence for a while; part of me was feeling guilty for what I had done to Adam. "What did they do?" he finally said back.

"Uhm…Just some kind of test. I don't think I did good. That governor hurt like hell." Jesse suddenly cut in, "I'm going to tell Adam, we're going to get you out."

Part of me lit up hearing I could get out of here, "No," I told him, "this is where I need to be. Look what I did to Brennan and to you…" Then I heard a loud noise, something running toward me. "Gotta go…" I told him to end out little conversation. Quickly I curled up and hid in the darkness of my cell in fears it was the guards.

"Val? Where are you?"

I frowned, "Bren?" He unlocked my cell with his powers and came to me.

"Let's get out of here," He took my hand and started pulling me out.

"No they'll see. Stop!" I got my hand back and took hold of him, "You aren't mine, and you belong to Shal. Listen to me," I shook him, "I tricked you Brennan, and I need this place." He frowned and felt my cheek, "baby, what have they done to you?"

The guards were coming closer to us, once in range they activated my governor. Brennan picked me up and started running out seeing me in pain. We got to his motorcycle and he put his hand on my neck:

"It's underneath…" I told him seeing the confusion on his face.

With a tiny bit of electricity he deactivated it. There wasn't much time to relax; he put me on the bike. As I looked back to the compound all hesitation left me, and I put my head against his back as I held on to him by the waist.

"Thank you," I whispered to him and closed my eyes as we sped off.

"No problem babe."

I opened my eyes feeling my comlink ring; I took it off and put it in my pocket. "Give me your ring," I said and added it to my pocket, "Now they won't be able to break us apart again."

"Please tell me you brought cash…." I sighed as we got to the parking lot of a motel that was out in the middle of nowhere.

"Of course I did hun," Brennan said helping me off the bike.

It still sounded kinda funny to hear him talk to me like that…but I was enjoying it too much now to correct him. Now I was going to prove Adam wrong, Brennan was mine and nothing was going to stop us from being together as long as he loved me. It was…I imagined around three in the morning by the time we walked into the front desk to get a room.

"Room please…just one night…" I told him.

It was easy to pick up on him sizing us both up, "it will be fifteen dollars…" he said holding the key up with his hand out wanting the money upfront.

I put it in his hand looking away and taking the key quicker than his eyes could move. Startled he jumped up knocking his chair over.

"Calm down geeze…thanks," Brennan glared at him and we left to go find our room.

"Now…for your reward," I purred holding onto his jacket as he opened the door to our room. When we got inside the door closed on its own and Brennan turned on the light before sitting down the bed.

Smiling, I sat down on his lap pulling off his jacket, "this will be soooo much better than before…" I whispered softly as I started kissing his neck. My eyes flashed and the feeling started to rise to the surface again. As I slipped my hands under his shirt he recoiled. "What's wrong?" pulling back I looked up at him worried.

"I can't….I just can't…." Looking at me he seemed confused.

"Why can't you?" In his eyes I could tell he was starting to overcome the power I had over him, I growled at the bad timing. Brennan moved me onto the bed, got up and walked across the room to the bathroom and shut the door. I laid down and stared at the ceiling while he I could hear him starting to shower. Quickly I got up taking off all my dirty clothes and I opened the door to the bathroom slowly creeping inside.

"Hope you don't mind if I join you…" I said opening the shower curtain. Brennan gave a look of shock seeing me and I pinned him against the wall. I teased him as I pushed my body close to his.

"Brennan, I need you so bad." With the water hitting my back I picked up on another strange sound. "No….no…that's impossible!" I growled pulling away from him. "The helix…" I hopped out of the shower and headed to the door opening it just a tiny bit; sure enough the helix had landed just across the street from the motel. Quickly I shut the door. "We gotta get out of here…" I scrambled to dry myself off and get my clothes back on. "Come on hurry up!" I called to him not knowing how long till they would find us…If Shalimar was with them it wouldn't be long. Brennan tried breaking a window that was in the bathroom but there were bars on it anyways. "Damn…" I cursed. Then noticed they had reached the door, I grabbed the lamp and was ready to fight. "We meet at the bike alright?" I said to him and he nodded.

The door flew open with Shalimar kicking it then charging in. I managed to bring her to the ground hitting her with the lamp. But Jesse massed in the doorway making it impossible to get out. "Brennan, help me!"

I looked over at him and he seemed really distant as he looked down at Shalimar then up to me, "Shalimar?"

I growled seeing him start to get control of himself again. My hair was grabbed from behind by Shalimar and she threw me across the room. I pushed off the wall and flew at her feet first, but she grabbed one foot and tossed me again into the dresser. After hitting the ground I was starting to get really pissed off, my eyes were a brilliant blue as I got up.

"What Shal? Pissed off I took your man? It's nothing personal…besides…he's not really your type in the first place" I laughed and dodged one of her punches. "That all you got?" When she tried again I managed to grab her wrist and twist it a little getting her by the neck.

"You belong in a kennel," she fired back and I tightened my hold on her neck.

"Stop Val…" Jesse said keeping to his post at the door.

"She deserves it," I growled at them but Shalimar managed to elbow me in the chest causing me to lose grip and she elbowed again at my cheek making my mouth bleed.

When I got up we started to throw kicks and punches till she managed to get me in the head making me fall back onto a short glass coffee table falling through it and into the center of the wood frame. I remember the free fall; it seemed to be forever until I hit the glass then all the cuts on my arms and my back as I hit the broken glass on the floor. When I tried to get up I realized I couldn't move…and I tried to call Brennan but I couldn't speak…I panicked and blacked out.


	17. Chapter 17: Losing Her Touch

Chapter 17: Losing Her Touch

I started to wake as I heard the others talking, but the voice of my stomach was louder. Turning in the seat I whined a little by accident, this tipped off the others to know I was waking up. It was at this point that I really didn't care what they did, put me to sleep or take me back to that horrible place…it didn't matter. Now I began to feel the bruising and soreness from my confrontation with Shalimar earlier and it was hurting even more in the position they had me. My left eye opened just a little and I saw that I was on the helix and closed it since Lexa was watching me. I heard them say that Adam wanted them to bring me back to Sanctuary, now I felt better knowing I'd get to go home…but of course that would not be without consequence and Adam could be one really mean guy. Unconsciously I shook thinking about the disappointment that would be seen his face…disappointment towards me, uhg I hated that feeling. When Lexa and the others weren't looking I moved my head slightly to get a view of the door. My thoughts now were on escaping, if I managed to get away I wouldn't have to face Adam, the feral camp, or embarrassment over what happened with Brennan. It all seemed like a good plan…if only I was in top condition and that I wouldn't be sure of till I had my feet on the ground.

My mind seemed to slip elsewhere as my body was overcome with heat; "Jeremy…" the name escaped my lips as my eyes opened looking at Lexa.

"He's dead Val…" I heard her say.

This came as a shock to me since I had not learned this news from anyone, "What?..No he's not!"

Lexa seemed to realize her own mistake and looked at the others before looking at me. "Adam found out three months ago…he wasn't sure how to tell you. He said there was a plane crash..."

I shook my head, "no…why would he be on a plane…there must have been a mix up, I'm sure there are a lot of Jeremy Danvers in the world...right?"

Then I remembered that plane ticket I saw in our room after getting back from our mission.

Lexa sighed and seemed to look to the others for help, but they didn't seem to get involved, "The flight was retuning here and it never made it."

Tears started to come down my cheeks, "it's not fair…" I cried moving towards Lexa for comfort, "I loved him Lex…I thought…he'd come back you know?" She nodded and tried to be affectionate, "why didn't I know? Adam shouldn't have hid this from me!" Now all of a sudden running away seemed like an even better idea than before. Jeremy was never coming back to Sanctuary and the man I trusted lied to me. Jesse announced that the Helix was arriving at Sanctuary.

"Lex? I want to leave…I can't stay here anymore, not after what I did."

Lexa stayed while the others started leaving the Helix, "Adam still needs to help you, and running isn't going to bring him back…Brennan and Shalimar just need some time."

I sat up and with her help got to my feet and together we left the Helix to the lab.

"Adam…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry..." I told him over and over as he cuffed me into the chair.

"Why did you tell me about Jer?" My voice was soft spoken.

He stopped what he was doing to look at me, his hand brushed his hair and he seemed to get a little choked up about it, "I was afraid…that you would relapse. Time went on and I just found it too hard."

Tears clouded my eyes and my nails grew longer and thick, "you made it worse! You can't keep these things from me Adam! I deserve to know." My arms fought against the cuffs, "I hate you! You drove Jeremy away from here in the first place…then you don't even tell me he's DEAD? God Adam…I don't know what's worse...that or making me this rapid animal that I can't control!"

He sat down across from me; he looked really out of shape…dark tired eyes and just sad. "I know…I made a mistake Valerie. I wish I could make things right, and I have tried…numerous times on improving your condition while you were gone. I have a treatment plan….but there are risks involved, it will be a series of shots you'll have to give yourself during the mating period that will control your aggression and thoughts."

I studied him closely, making sure he was telling me the honest truth. "I've got nothing to lose Adam…just do it," I turned my head away from him and looked to the floor.

After the injection I was able to relax more, but everything else seemed to be catching up with me. Before it had all felt unreal, well now the truth was setting in. Adam kept me in the lab and tried to make it comfy, only I was still upset with him and refused to talk to him. The others came to visit me often…yeah I stayed in the lab Hilton for a week, which was the remainder of the season. Adam's solution seemed effective, which was a relief since he scared me with the whole risk thing. Things were still a little shaky between Shalimar, Brennan and I…I don't blame them for that, it was my fault for not holding myself back at the feral camp.

When I was back on my feet Adam came up with the idea to honor Jeremy by making a little monument for him. I knew he was still trying to kiss up, but I didn't care anymore and was just trying to deal with the loss more than the not knowing.


	18. Chapter 18: Just Seen A Ghost

Part 2

Chapter 18: Just Seen a Ghost

3 Months Later

Today was the first day of June. Which meant my birthday was only a few days away on the sixth. I already had a party planed at the Viper Room. It was the club Raphael owned and we had since become good friends again. He agreed to let me have a table for the night. All those that I knew and still were in town were already invited. I was excited about turning twenty-five; I didn't really understand why I was so happy about getting older though.

Stretching in bed I turned off my alarm and opened the window. I was very proud of my window, which I fought with Adam over and finally won. Lucy jumped up onto my bed wagging her little tail.

"Morning. You hungry? 'Cause I sure am."

Lucy barked a yes and ran out of the room, so I chased after her to the kitchen.

Jesse was making toast and I heard it about to pop; I grabbed a piece of it and put butter on it. "Thanks for the toast, but I could kill for some bacon." I went into the fridge and took out a pound and starting heating a skillet. Jesse's angered face changed seeing that I was going to cook some.

"Oo, sounds good," he said as I started laying the bacon in the pan.

"Sorry bud, dogs only," I laughed and Lucy's ears perked up and her tail wagged as she sat between us. Jesse made a pouting face which became enough for me to change my mind. "Fine...but don't get used to it. That's Lexa's job not mine," I teased him. By now it was common knowledge the two had a thing for each other.

After breakfast I had some training to do; Adam wanted me to train in some kind of course he had set up. When I entered the training room the lights were off and I could sense Adam was there but I couldn't see him.

"Alright, Whatever," I rolled up my sleeves and flashed my eyes. Walking in I tried to keep aware of any potential traps and dodged a falling bag. As I made my way deeper into the maze Adam's scent got stronger. When I got to the source of the scent it was a dummy. "What?" Turning around I got knocked off my feet by Adam jumping down from some platform. "How'd you…" I started to say.

Adam interrupted, "Val you've got to rely on more than just your senses, what if you enemy is silent and carries no scent?"

I looked at him confused, "Everyone has a scent Adam…"

He shook his head no and folded his arms, "Anything is possible."

Just then an alarm sounded as it appeared someone was in close range of Sanctuary. Adam took off to the computer and pulled up the cameras..

"I don't believe it…" he shook his head looked over at me.

I quickly ran over to take a look at the screen. "Jeremy? That's impossible.."

Without heeding to Adam's warning of a trap I took off running out of Sanctuary…I ran until he was in full view…then I slowed down. His scent...it was really him.

He opened his arms and I ran into him…squeezing him and kissing him. "I thought you were dead…they told me you were dead…" I cried.

Running out of Sanctuary was a dangerous task after finding out about a guy named Samuel Wes; he was now our new Gabriel Ashlocke, a mutant with abilities feral, molecular, psionic and elemental.

My adoration turned quickly to disgust, "Where the fuck were you? Why didn't you ever return my calls? Why did you leave us there?"

I slapped him across the face; I was going to do it once more but he caught my hand, I was amazed he could do that. "You deserve to be hit," I growled and flashed my eyes.

He nodded then let go of my hand and started walking back up to Sanctuary, "let's talk inside," I heard him say.

When I went back inside I saw Shalimar was talking to Jeremy; a string of jealously hit me and I gave her a dirty look before turning and going to my room. I could hear Shal ask him what my problem was and I walked slower to hear his response. He gave her none and instead was coming after me. I got to my room and tried to shut the door behind me but he put his hand on the door and pushed back. "Jer don't," I warned, he knew I was stronger than him but he was psionic. When I put both hands on the door he charged in pushing me back and closed the door behind him, "I said back off!" I pushed him back into the door.

"Just let me explain or at least talk for just a minute?" Jeremy sighed and sat down. "I didn't mean to leave you guys back there honestly."

I folded my arms as he started to recount the past…the last time I had seen him at Genomex on a mission.

"I was captured…but not by Genomex, these guys wore suits and they had these strange helmets on so I couldn't use my abilities. I don't know how but they knew me and Adam."

I took a seat on the bed a bit in shock 'cause I never dreamed that he might have been kidnapped because…wait.. "Lexa said you gave her your ring and that you quit.."

Jeremy didn't look surprised, "They made me do that so they wouldn't be suspected."

I shrugged, "All this time you had been held by these people?"

Jeremy nodded.

"But…who were these people? I mean…are they with Samuel? Is that why you're here?"

I could tell he was thinking hard about his answer. "Yeah, his name came up a lot but I never saw him. When I got free I looked that guy up and came back here to talk to Adam."

Looking away from him I just nodded, but I could sense something was up because he was totally lying. I got up and opened the door for him to leave, "I need to change clothes."

When he left I powered up my computer and started searching to see if there was anything on this agency or if Jer was making it up. From all the info Adam knew on the followers of Wes, it didn't sound like the ones Jeremy had described. I ended up searching for two hours but found nothing; I wondered if Adam bought his story.

Frustrated as hell I jumped in the shower and put on some clean clothes afterwards. Looking at the clock I knew it wouldn't be long till Adam would want to talk. I read magazines until four o'clock rolled around and there was a knock on the door.

"No girl scout cookies for me, come back next year," I yelled to the door as a joke.

"Guess it's a good thing I'm not selling cookies," Brennan responded to my surprise. "Oh….it's you" I got up and opened the door, "Sorry…thought you were Adam." Brennan looked at me strangely, "you feeling okay? You look like you've seen a ghost?" I gave a short laugh, "Yeah wonder why that is." Brennan gave me a hug. "I just don't trust him Bren, I talked to him earlier and I could tell he was lying about what happened to him, but I can't find anything on him."

He let go, "Maybe you should tell Adam."

"No." I quickly responded, "He'll just think I'm overreacting or something, besides he seems happy to have him back."

Brennan left to go talk to Adam even though I told him not to. The only reason I left my room was to get lunch and I had my headphones on with a hoodie jacket hoping that it would be obvious that I didn't want to talk to anyone. Quickly I jogged down the stairs and almost tripped when Shalimar pulled the headphones out of my ears.

"What the hell Shal!" I growled flashing my eyes in sudden pure anger.

"No, you tell me what's going on Val," she snapped back.

"It's none of your business alright? Ask Adam or Lexa, k?"

Shalimar didn't move, "No, you're telling me right now!" she demanded.

I laughed, "Or what? You gonna tell my dead mother?" She gave me a strange look then I realized she didn't know about my parents. "Talk to Lexa and leave me alone, sorry."

I apologized before going to the kitchen. Shalimar seemed to have backed off but I could hear her heels click as she went to Lexa's room. I started to cook and wondered what Lexa would tell her. After that whole incidence the place was rather quiet, later I learned Adam and Jeremy were out…so I took the opportunity to search Jeremy's room for clues about his real story.

I did manage to find one thing, a folder that he had tried to hide under the mattress of his bed. "I know you too damn well Jeremy." Quickly I took it out and started to go through it. "Wow, this is more than what Adam has." Photos, charts, background…all on Samuel Wes, even down to his treatments done by…"Adam?" Taking the folder I went to my room and made photocopies of the pages. Just as Adam and Jer got back I slipped into his room and put the folder back just as I had found it.

While I walked back to my room I saw him walking towards me, "Hey…" I said and decided to give him a hug "tonight…we can talk..I promise." Making the promise I gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Welcome home." Smiling, I then started walking knowing the information I needed was waiting for me to read it.

Locking the door I laid on my bed and started really going through the notes. "He must know more than he's telling us.." I noticed Adam's signature was on almost everything. "You got some explaining to do. This is just like Ashlocke, why would you make the same mistake twice? Unless you thought it would be different." On the last page there was some kind of seal. "Who's this?" Taking another piece of paper I copied it best I could.

After hiding the copies I took the picture and went to the computer, but Jesse was on it. "Can you look this up for me? And…don't tell anyone for me?"

He gave me a strange look but took the paper. "It's gonna take a while…and I'm not positive I'll find anything." He drew the symbol into a notepad and started the search then turned around in his chair. "So you gonna at least tell me what this is about?"

I sat down at the computer across from him, "I found it…on some papers in Jeremy's room. Sorry Jess, I just know he's lying about what happened. I'm tired of being lied to! I wanna know the truth. Adam told me he died in a plane crash, remember? We even had a fucking ceremony! He was dead…certain...dead. And now he just shows up with this story about being held by Wes or something? I could feel his pulse rushing, he was definitely lying!" I growled and tried to catch my breath to relax.

Jesse appeared a little shocked by my outburst, "Sorry…I didn't realize.." his voice trailed off, "you know, have you mentioned that first part to Jeremy?"

"Uhm..somewhat," I exaggerated.

Jesse looked back to the computer, "Oh! Found something." He gave a look of confusion, "that's strange...no information is given, just a name. The Order."


	19. Chapter 19: Conspiracy

Chapter 19: Conspiracy

"Who the hell is The Order?" When I left Jesse I walked around a bit trying to get a handle on this, "sounds so like a dumbass comic book! And not to mention he's a traitor!"

Upon turning the corner I ran into Adam. At this point I wasn't sure if I could trust Adam after looking his signatures on Samuel's documents.

"Who is The Order?" I just flat out asked folding my arms.

He stopped walking, "How do you know about The Order?" I tried to think quickly, "A friend…she mentioned something about them."

He rubbed his chin, "come to my office after midnight."

I was a little shocked that he wanted to wait till everyone was asleep.

"Alright, I'll be there."

Adam didn't seem to show any emotion before walking away.

Adam stayed hidden is some part of Sanctuary. Being bored as hell and moody I decide to just take a long nap with Lucy, who was already napping on her blanket. Someone knocked on the door around dinner time, but I just rolled over and went back to sleep and luckily they went away. I had the best dream that I had in a long time…he was there, Jeremy...lying next to me in our bed with a finger to my mouth to quiet me. I knew that I was dreaming but it just felt so real, which made me wonder if Jer was getting inside my mind while I was asleep.

"I've missed you," he whispered brushing my hair with his other hand, "you need to help me…he has me and won't let go of me."

I looked at him strangely not expecting him to say that. "Who?" I asked but got no answer…Jeremy looked scared and then I woke up.

Lucy was licking my face knowing something was up. "It's okay Lucy…I'm fine." Wiping my face I sat up and realized it was after midnight; I figured Jeremy had already gone to bed…my shoulders shook trying to get off that creepy vibe his voice gave me in the dream.

I went down to the lab like Adam had told me to do. Going in the lights were not on, "Adam? You here?" I called out trying to whisper. I smelled him behind me and turned around, "there you.." I was cut off by a punch to the face, "what the hell Adam?" I rubbed my bruised cheek, "don't make me hit you back," I warned but he said nothing, just stared. Jeremy came around behind me and elbowed me in the back sending me to the ground, "is this some kind of test thing?" I hissed in pain.

"No, you know too much now" with another punch to the head it was lights out for me.

I woke in a cage, should've known…I always wake up in a cage. "You people are sick you know that?" I yelled and Jeremy walked in, "you…you put Adam up to this…I knew you were lying to me, whose The Order?" I went to get up but fell down.

Jeremy of course started laughing his ass off, "oh I've missed you Valerie."

I refused to look at him and just sighed, "they will find out...I won't let this happen." Jeremy came to the bars, "he cries when he sees you, ya know, it's very touching."

I crawled over to him and looked into his strange eyes; I knew that this wasn't the Jeremy I knew, "what are you?"

He started laughing again and it made me cringe, 'A mutant...I need a host to live in, when I discovered this man had a connection to Adam I decided to come find him, and use this mutant's power to control him. Samuel did this to me….He destroyed my body in the first place. I had a normal life…a family and children, he took that away from me!" he yelled in anger.

I only wished the others could hear him and come down to check things out…but then I realized he wasn't yelling it out loud but in my mind. I was shocked….the dream was right, Jeremy was trying to get help and I just forgot about it. "I'm going to help you Jer, but you have to fight him."

He blasted me, sending me across the cell, "you fool!"

"Shut up I wasn't talking to you" I snapped, and he opened the cell door upon hearing me talk back to him. He grabbed me and ordered me to get up. I used the wall to help me up and I stared him down, "I'm not afraid of you…bring it if you want your ass kicked so badly."

The mutant knocked me out in one quick punch.

I was still stuck in the cage when I woke up, but with a plate of food sitting there for me. When he managed to out fight me and now I was paying with the pain. I whimpered trying to get to the plate of food; I could feel him watching me. As I started eating and I noticed my comlink still on my finger.

"You don't have to watch me eat."

He nodded and said he had to go anyway but put Adam in charge of watching me. I knew that he was going to hear me, but I needed to take a risk and get the other's attention. Poor Adam…this bastard was fucking with Adam's mind...making him follow orders.

"HELP IM LOCKED UP! JEREMY HAS A MUTANT TAKING OVER HIM! DON'T LET HIM-" As I yelled on the comlink Adam opened the cage and started tackling me. I fought back poorly but he pulled out a knife and started cutting my arm and cheek before I put him out and locked him up. I tripped on my feet and started crawling up the stairs as Jesse was running down them.

"He used his abilities…on Adam…I put him in the cage. We need to get that guy out of Jeremy."

Jesse picked me up and carried me up the stairs, "It's gonna be alright…I don't think he's left Sanctuary."

Just as he finished the alarm on Sanctuary triggered sealing tight all the exits, we were now the prisoners in our own home.


	20. Chapter 20: The Body Snatcher

Chapter 20: The Body Snatcher

"Jess you can do it, just mass and he can't blast you. If he hits you then he could control you too." He set me down on the couch but I was feeling better now and got up. "We need to trap him, and then figure out how to get this mutant out of him."

Shalimar and Lexa came running in and stopped a few feet from us, "he's in Adam's lab with the doors locked, we can't let him get into the system," Shalimar said looking at us.

Lexa put her arms up as if to stretch but instead knocked Shalimar out with her elbow then fired at laser towards us,

"Mass!" I yelled getting behind Jesse as he did so. "What the hell! Now he's got Lexa…" Looking down Shalimar was clearly going to be out for a while.

"Hold on..." Jesse instructed and I felt my stomach sink as he phased us through the floor to the bottom floor of Sanctuary.

"Ugg..if I didn't think I was going to barf before I sure do now…" Clutching my stomach we started running to the control room.

"Wait…where's Brennan?"

Jesse cursed before answering, "he said he was meeting a friend and wouldn't be back until tonight."

I sighed knowing we could really use him right then. "Do you have a plan? Please tell me you have a plan…" My ears picked up on the sound of Lexa's shoes against the floor coming our way so I sped up the pace as we just kept running.

"Well he's in Adam's lab so he can't control the computers or Sanctuary much from there…I'm betting that he set off the alarms while trying to access Adam's files from in the lab. The only thing we need to worry about right now is not getting killed by Lexa; once we take care of her then we can go after Jeremy…er...the mutant."

We turned a corner and waited, "ok…I'll take care of Lex; I just need you to watch my back for me."

Looking up I saw the pipe lines that went through Sanctuary, jumping up I was able to get a grip on one and pull myself up…I'd wait till Lexa was right under me then attack before she could fire. When I saw her coming I got prepared with eyes flashed ready to kick some butt. To my surprise Jesse jumped out into the hallway to get her attention, I almost gave myself away to yell at his stupidity. However it worked and Lexa came down the hall firing at Jesse. I came down on Lexa feet first, knocking her to the ground.

She yelled and attempted to go invisible but my feral eyes could still her clear as day, "that won't work on me Lex" I growled and attempted to hold her down with my body weight and struggled to keep her hands pointed away from me."Lexa! I know you can hear me, you need to fight the control he has over you," part of me didn't want to hurt her so I tried to give her a chance to come through.

Growling…but this time it wasn't coming from me. "Lucy?" She started barking and I turned my head to see she was snarling at Jesse, "damnit Lucy back down!" I commanded but she didn't move from him. "I'm going to take Lexa down and put her in the cell with Adam…seems like a good idea." Lexa squirmed under me trying to get her arms free, "oh the revenge I could have right now…" Sighing I stood up holding her hands to point at her back so she wouldn't be able to fire at me or destroy anything. After putting her in with Adam I ran back up to find both Jesse and Lucy gone; the only person who seemed to not be gone was Shalimar...who was still out cold on the floor when I ran back up in search of Jesse or Lucy.

"Okay Jeremy!" I rose up my arms in defeat, "what do you want, hm? Leave my friends alone and I'll let you have whatever you want."

Looking around I waited for something to happen but nothing did. Giving up I sat down by Shalimar and looked at the clock wondering how long this was going to go on.

My eyes flashed and I got back up to my feet when I saw Jeremy coming down the hall. "Stay back!" I warned and he stopped.

"Val…it's me, he's got Jess now."

My brow rose in suspicion until he fell against the wall and slid to the ground. Rushing to him I felt his head, it burning hot and his shirt was soaked in sweat, "you have a fever."

He cleared his throat, "I missed you..."

My eyes rolled in an automatic response, but shortly after the fact I was glad he didn't see it. "Come on…we gotta cool you down, where is he?"

Jeremy pulled away from me, "Shit" he paused "To kill Adam".

Quickly I got up and was going to go but Jeremy grabbed my foot, "wait! It's too dangerous; if you get him weak he'll just jump into you."

I shook my foot free, "I can't just let him kill Adam." Running as fast as I could to get to the containment area and saw the door was already opened. "STOP!"

Jesse had his hand around Adam's neck; since the host no longer was in Jeremy the psionic effect he had on Adam and Lexa were gone.

"Killing Adam isn't going to solve anything! Samuel ruined your life…not Adam." My feral ears picked up on the sound Lexa; she must have been using her abilities to get closer. The host massed Jesse's arm, tightening the grip around Adam's neck. I could see Lexa about to kick him and held back from attacking him. Surprised by Lexa's sneak attack, Adam fell to the ground and the host in Jesse's body was falling on top of Adam. Then something began emerging from Jesse's back and flew at me.

"MOVE!" Jeremy pushed me out of the way and held up a plastic box sealing it with the mutant inside; "take it" Jeremy said giving it to me before leaning back against the wall, passing out from his fever.

Jesse and Adam took him to lab and we met a confused Shalimar along the way.

"The mutant had worn down Jeremy's immune system by overusing his abilities for such a long period of time," Adam explained while placing cooling packs on his arms, legs and forehead.

"So…how long has this mutant been in him?"

Adam scratched his head for a minute, "My guess is right before or after the plane crash…"

Grabbing a lab chair I sat down by Jeremy and looked over at the box, "Don't worry. He's contained in there and will be destroyed soon. He knows too much about Sanctuary and is a risk to anyone around him."

"And he wanted to kill you," I added.

Adam nodded silently and watched Jeremy's core body temperature starting to drop. I began to realize that all this time Adam was probably under the influence of the host as well. When thinking back I realized one important question hadn't been answered:

"Adam? Who's The Order?"

Adam took a seat, "The Order is…a group of men and woman...not so much like the Dominion, rather its opposite like Genomex. My guess is our mutant here was recruited by them after he obtained Jeremy's body. There really isn't a lot of information on them; all of what I have was from a single source that claimed to work there, she went to the restroom at the place we were meeting…when it took her a long time I decided to go look, she was dead. No doubt in my mind they killed her."

I looked over at Jeremy, "what? Are you saying they might kill him?"

Adam nodded, "but I'm not going to let them, I did a scan of his body and found a device they implanted on his lower back, it contains a poison to be released into his bloodstream at their command."

Looking away from them I tried to make sense of this, "does he know...anything about all this? Wait…of course he doesn't. Are you going to be able to remove it?"

"As soon as his body temperature returns to normal I'll start on it, since we have no idea when they'll release the poison."

I was just glad that Jeremy was still unconscious, there was no telling how he'd react to this, and most likely he'd leave Sanctuary as fast as he could to go after these people.

An alarm scared me awake; I realized that I had fallen asleep in the lab chair while waiting for Adam to get that thing out of Jeremy. Rubbing my eyes Adam came in and raised the lights, "you let me sleep?"

He started washing his hands, "yes, seemed like you needed it."

Getting up I looked at the monitor that read stabilized. Adam started removing the cooling pads and moving Jer flat onto his stomach on a table. "There anything I can do?"

He nodded, "make sure he stays still and use the monitors to tell me if he's stable. I gave him a sedative to keep him out when he started to regain consciousness while you were sleeping."

I took my place and Adam already starting opening Jeremy's back with a laser. Biting my lip my eyes managed to look away to watch the monitors.

"His heart rate is going up…"

Adam said nothing but continued the procedure.

When I looked over I saw the device, it was wrapped around what looked like a vein. 'Oh my god...' I thought- knowing that the slightest misstep could cause him to bleed out. "Can't Jesse phase it out?"

Adam whispered a no in response.

I saw the others standing outside the lab watching us.

"Got it," Adam said holding up the small vile with tweezers.

Looking over I was relieved to see that he had done it and that somehow he managed to slip it through the tangle of veins. He placed the vile on a tray and started moving the veins back in place. Jeremy's heart rate didn't seem to drop back to normal till Adam started healing the opening he made.

"Thanks Adam," I gave him a hug once he had taken off the gloves; hearing him laugh made it worth it since I wasn't too keen into hugs either.

The others came into the lab and we just hanged around waiting for Jeremy to wake up. Jesse and Lexa had left to order pizza, which got the three of us talking when Shalimar told us that Jesse had been planning to propose to Lexa. It was strange hearing that Jesse and Lexa might get married, 'cause I didn't think that Lexa would be able to settle for one guy or any guy that she could really get along with. And if those two were to get married what would that mean for the team? Sure I was being a little selfish with my thoughts but I couldn't help it.

The only thing that broke me from my thoughts was screaming; Shalimar and I took off out of the lab to find Jesse bent down holding a box to Lexa, who must have screamed.

She looked over at us with teary eyes, "Guys…I'm getting married!"

Shal held in a laugh, both of us were just shocked to see Lexa showing so much emotion, something we weren't used to.

"That's great Lex…I think I lost an old bet with Jer."

Shalimar gave Lexa a hug, "we're both happy for you two."

I gave Jess a punch in the arm, "hey! How come I didn't know! Geeze and I share everything with you!"

Jesse rubbed his arm, "yeah…and sometimes I wish you wouldn't share."

I rolled my eyes, "you're just asking to get punched again aren't ya?"

He held up his fist and massed, "believe me…I can punch harder."

Shalimar grabbed me by the arm, "I think we should let these two be alone for a while, don't you think Val?"

"Uh…oh yeah, but don't forget about that pizza, I'm starving."

When we got back to the lab we let him know that it was a false alarm, also that Jesse had proposed to Lexa and they were engaged now. Then we noticed Jeremy had woken up somewhat and told him a little about what had happened. At first he refused to talk unless we told him what Adam had done to him. Part of me was still angry at him for disappearing in the first place, and now I hoped to finally find out why he had done it, well…not now, I would wait a while.

Once the others left the room Jeremy sat up and took my hand, "I made a mistake…back then. Adam and I got into a fight before the mission, and he said something that really made sense…which was that the problems with the team were my fault…the arguing between you and Lexa, you and me and Adam and I. And I left at probably the worst time possible. You were right to slap me, but Val I've changed so much. Before the plane crash I managed to get the life that we had wanted, remember? Come home with me Valerie?"

I squeezed his hand, he knew nothing of what had happened to me since he left and I was beginning to learn how much he had accomplished.

"I can't…I tried living without the action and constant sense of danger. But I can't let you leave again, stay here and be a part of the team. We could use your help and take out this Samuel guy, please? I just don't feel my job with the team is done yet."

I don't think it was possible to do any more convincing….unless…no, that would work but that would be a backup move.

Jeremy looked around then back to me, "I'll stay…but only 'cause you want me to and to be your body guard."

He smiled and I leaned in to whisper in his ear, "You can guard my body anytime baby."


	21. Chapter 21: Friend or Foe?

Chapter 21: Friend or Foe?

We were closing in on Samuel Wes' location from the air. By studying his moves it appeared that we both had a common agenda, which was to take out Gabriel Ashlocke. At first it was a strange concept, Shalimar and Jesse both agreed that we just let him take Ashlocke out, he had the ability to do it. Adam and the others made a good point too, that an alliance might be made against us, in other words our plan backfiring on us. Since Samuel knew little about our abilities we went after him, also an easier target to track. Adam had given us a list of Samuel's known abilities and each of us had a plan of how to counter those attacks, lots of training had gone into this mission unlike before.

"I've locked in on him…he's moving South on State Ave. Appears to be traveling alone also," Jesse said while flying the Helix.

"Can you bring her down low enough for me to tag a ride?" I asked him, tapping my foot in nervousness and excitement.

"Um…yeah but I don't think that's such a good idea Val…" Jesse had the bird in stealth form as we flew over his convertible.

"Come on he's asking for it with the top down…Please Jess…"

Something made him change his mind and let me go, but I didn't ask what it was. "What? You're joking right? You're not letting her jump right into car!" Jeremy fought back but I was already at the back of the Helix ready to slip out.

"Sorry Jer," I said to him before slipping out and into the backseat of Wes' car.

I grabbed him by the neck with my arms holding him against the seat, "Keep driving..." I instructed after Jesse told me over the comlink that there was a place for them to land ahead. Samuel had other plans though, he was strong too…being a feral feline tiger, he was a lot more powerful than my feralness even through training.

"Get out of my car," he growled to me but still kept driving.

I hopped into the front seat, "why should I? This spot doesn't seem to be taken…and we'll be stopping soon."

He looked over at me; I thought for sure he was going to give me a telempathic blast…but he only flashed his golden eyes at me and looked back to the road.

"You could of blasted me…why didn't you?"

Sam looked a little shocked and troubled at the same time, "who are you? You must be working for him aren't you?"

"No…I don't work for Ashlocke..."

He stopped the car; "you're lying to me feral!" his growl was deeper and grabbed my neck this time and something strange happened.

Looking past him I could see the others standing there ready, but they weren't moving. "Stasis suspension…you froze us?" I choked.

"Gabriel sent you to kill me? I thought he'd be smarter than that…I could kill you in less than a second."

My eyes narrowed at the threat, "well then I guess it's a good thing Gabriel didn't send me…but no he's not stupid and would never send someone else to do his own job. Geeze…can you let go?"

I couldn't believe I was actually talking to this guy; I was supposed to kill him or at least set him up. Something inside wanted to know more about him and wanted to keep talking to him. Sam's grip loosened, "then why the hell did you jump into my car? And I take it these guys are your friends?" he pointed to Shalimar, Brennan, Jeremy, Lexa, and Jesse all in a row ready to attack.

"Yeah…they are." When I looked back at him I could see pain in his face, "you're sick aren't you? That's why you didn't blast me."

Samuel looked around, "come with me," he ordered me to follow him as he jumped out of the car and into a building.

As I was about to protest I knew that the team would kick my ass if I just let him get away. "Fine..." Once we both got into the building time had unfroze and he stumbled up the stairs. "Look, why don't you tell me what's going on? Is this how come you haven't killed Ashlocke yet?"

Wes sat down at the top of a stairway, "my abilities…are disappearing and I don't know why. Just all of a sudden they aren't there anymore and when I use the ones that I do have, I feel like crap afterwards. And yeah…that's why I haven't killed him."

'Val? Where are you? Can you hear me?' Shalimar's voice came in over my comlink in confusion; it must have looked as if we both disappeared in split second to them.

For now I decided not to say anything until I got more information from Samuel. "Why are you after him anyway? If I had your abilities I'd be rich woman retired on a beach somewhere."

He gave a short laugh in pain, "Nah, I know what he's about and I don't like it…I'm going to find out who did this to me so he can fix this, then I kill Gabriel, and then I kill the other to stop this from ever happening again. One man shouldn't have this much power."

Sighing, I sat down by him, my only hope was that once he met Adam he'd change his mind, that always worked didn't it? "My friends can help you; there is a guy that helps mutants like us. Maybe he can help you out. His location is top secret though since guys like Ashlocke are always after him, we'll have to put a cloaking device on you." At first he appeared hesitant, probably still thought I was an enemy to him or curious as to why I would want to help him. "We all want Ashlocke dead too and we believe you're the only one that can stop him."

He nodded agreeing to the help, "I don't know what your angle is, but if you're true to your word then I'd be stupid to pass up that offer."


	22. Chapter 22: Renewed

Chapter 22: Renewed

Somehow I managed to describe the situation to the others once I told them where we were. The others didn't quite understand why we were helping him and not ridding of him, but Adam's word was the final say. With Adam's consent we put Sam in the Helix and cloaked his eyes while we took him Sanctuary. He stayed quiet during the short flight there, with a few threats from Brennan if he tried to make a move against them. Shalimar watched him like a hawk...or…I guess you could say like curious cat. As I thought more about Samuel the more I was beginning to think that we had the wrong impression of him; I mean he really hadn't made a move against us like a usual enemy does. The only reason we hunted Wes was because he was powerful, maybe he wasn't as corrupt as we thought him to be and wrongly judged him?

Adam understood the threat that Samuel had made against his 'creator' so he tried to stick mainly to business. He seemed really eager to get a scan of Wes, probably to compare them with those he had of Ashlocke. I took a seat in the lab and stayed, even after a hard glare from Adam, but there was no way I was going to let Samuel Wes out of my sight, even for a few tests. Jeremy of course wasn't too far away, not wanting to let me out of his sight while this guy was around; I wasn't quite sure if it was 'cause he could kill us all if he wanted or 'cause he didn't like the a male feral being so close. My guess it was a combination of the two. Shalimar seemed to keep her distance for now, looking up more info on him using the database.

"Scans show deterioration in certain sections of your DNA composition, much like Ashlocke's except without the physical breakage. The abilities that you have are so strong that in Ashlocke's case it starts to tear him apart; now it seems your body is trying to prevent that by destroying the patterns of DNA that caused that certain mutation, which is why you are losing those abilities. I may just be able to repair those segments but there is no telling how long the repair will last before you get back to this point."

Samuel seemed to be taking note of every word that came out of Adam's mouth. "I killed my last doctor…he lied to me and I won't take that crap from no one, you clear?"

Both of us were shocked by Wes's sudden threat after he had seemed so nice since he choked me earlier.

Adam nodded, "you have my word."

Biting my lip I looked at him scared, wishing he hadn't made a promise that he might not be able to keep.

"Man I'd like to sink my claws into this freak who made us like this…You have no idea what it's like to be able to go back correct the mistakes you've made or change people's emotions, is it really right to be able to have so much power? I-" He stopped in mid thought making both of us look at him, his eyes were closed.

Flashing my eyes I got closer to him, "He's still breathing."

"Yeah, his mind must be having trouble keeping up with the mental changes and it's affecting his state of consciousness. Why don't you go check with the others and see how they're doing, I need to work on this."

Sighing heavily I said fine and left the lab to find the team had split up in their researching.

As I was searching the database again for a history on this guy I spaced out completely, which hadn't gone unnoticed by Jeremy.

"What's wrong?" he sat down next to me after kissing my cheek.

"Just a little confused, tired, bleck... you know that feeling? When staring at a computer is tolerable 'cause you're not really looking at it?" I expected him to at least laugh a little but he didn't.

"Look…I know you're going to fight me on this one, but I want you to keep your distance from that guy, alright? When Adam gets his powers restored to defeat Ashlocke he'll be dangerous. Damn I hope he knows what he's doing…neither of those two should be alive." "Yeah I know, but it seems Gabriel is a bigger threat to us than Wes…he really hasn't…" Jeremy was giving me a strange look, and then I slapped him across the face, "how dare you read my memories."

He let me get up from the computer, "he hurt you…he grabbed you by the neck."

"No…I mean yes…but that was before he knew we're on the same side" I tried to explain.

"Same side? Val we are not on the same side as this guy…hell, we don't even know what side this guy plays on, but if it includes killing Adam then I'd say he's not!" Jeremy was raising his voice, catching the attention of Shal and Jesse whom had come in a few minutes ago. "I'm going to stop this; Adam is making a big mistake" Jeremy was clearly beyond pissed off now. "Don't!" I grabbed his arm and held it tight, "Adam takes responsibility for the safety of all of us and knows how to make the right choices…granted he's made some mistakes, but so have we. If you go in there you'll give Sam a reason to attack us."

He stayed quiet and seemed defeated; Adam appeared from the direction of the lab, "it will take some time for him to recover, but I've made the repairs."

I let go of Jeremy's arm and he stepped toward Adam, "if he hurts anyone but Ashlocke…I will kill him and I will blame you."

After that Jeremy headed to his room.

Adam looked at all of us and sighed, "he'll come around…we need to get an idea of Ashlocke's location then I want you all to get some rest to be ready to fight his people."


	23. Chapter 23: Battle of Two Evils

Chapter 23: Battle of Two Evils

Someone was knocking on my door, "go away Jeremy…" I mumbled forbidding my eyes to open.

"Hm?" Jeremy responded still half asleep next to me, and then I began to remember what day it was.

"Door..." I had hoped that he'd be gentleman and open it since I didn't feel like getting dressed...or moving an arm for that matter.

"Lamp…" he responded toying with me.

"Who is it?" I shouted, "And what do you want?"

It was Lexa, "get your asses up! We're leaving in ten minutes."

Her voice wasn't pleasant to my sensitive ears; I noticed Jeremy wasn't moving: 'damn he already went back to sleep?' Turning onto my side I put an arm across him and rested my head on his chest.

I must of woke him up 'cause his hand went to my hair, "She says ten, but really she means thirty," he smiled.

"That's good…you can shower first then," one eye opened to see his reaction.

"I was thinking maybe we should shower at the same time…would save us some time and you wouldn't have to complain about me stealing your precious hot water."

Jeremy really wasn't making that an option; he got up and pulled me out of bed slinging me over his shoulder.

After our longer than planned shower we both rushed to get ready. As I was putting on eye shadow Jeremy was standing behind me as I looked in the mirror, "what? You ready?"

I finished and turned around, "happy birthday baby," he smiled and his hands went to my neck as he put my gift on.

I was a little embarrassed having forgotten my own birthday because of all that was going on. "Aw...it's beautiful," the diamond heart pendant was just the right size and it sparkled under the lights, "I love you so much!" I gave him a hug and a kiss; it was the first gift I had gotten from him since the Christmas before the team fell apart.

"We better get going before they decide to leave us behind."

I put on my large ass kicking boots and grabbed my black jacket, "Now I'm ready."  
Samuel and the others were waiting by the Helix when we got there; Adam was talking with him about the plan.

"Good luck guys and be careful," he said before going to the computers to monitor everything.

There wasn't much talking because we all knew this was going to be a tough challenge for us since Ashlocke probably knew we would be coming. Jeremy made sure to sit between Samuel and me; he still didn't trust him at all now that he was healed.

"Okay…let's get this done and over with. No one make any stupid mistakes and help each other out," Brennan said in an attempt to pep talk us.

"Yes captain Mulwray!" I laughed but no one else did, 'cause unlike everyone else I was in a pretty pleasant mood from getting the necklace. For the rest of the flight I had my head on his shoulder and a hand on the necklace.

We landed a couple blocks away from the location and Jesse pulled up the map of the building Gabriel was in.

We all gathered around Jesse to see what he was going to say, "There are only two ways in besides the roof access. Now Lexa and I are going to phase in over here to catch these guards by surprise so Samuel can get in with Brennan through this door. Shalimar is going to use the roof access, Valerie and Jeremy will go in through the second door in the back. We weaken them, it weakens Ashlocke. Everyone got it?"

After everyone agrees we headed out to face our toughest challenge as a whole team.

From at a short distance Jeremy fired a blast at one of the guards to convince the two that they had to go in for change of guard. Once the two went inside we ran to the door and I caught it before it could close and lock shut.

"After you…" he said to me and I walked in kicking a guy in the head that had his hands up to fight.

"Pathetic…" Strand members were falling to the ground unconscious from Jeremy's blasts as he did combat with others. Together we battled our way closer to Ashlocke's room. We met Shalimar, Lexa, and Jesse on the way…we figured that Brennan was still with Samuel.

We found Ashlocke's door already blown off with Brennan guarding it from Gabriel's people getting in.

"Hey…" I said to him letting the others go in while I watched their backs. Peeking in, the room was already destroyed beyond recognition. Furniture was on fire and water was leaking from the bathroom area…that was enough to keep Brennan and I out of the room, his fear of water and mine of fire. This was Samuel's fight anyway; we were just here to take care of the minions.

There was a loud crack that made all of us jump and look; Gabriel had sent Samuel through the wall into the next room.

Jeremy came over to us, "guys this isn't looking good, Ashlocke is kicking his ass…we need to help him."

"Yeah…" I took off running down the hall and kicked down the door to the room that Wes had been thrown into. To my advantage Ashlocke had been standing there and the flying door hit him in the back, making him lose his grip on Samuel to send him to the ground.

His feral eyes glared into me, "That hurt…now it's your turn."

I got in a stance to fight him, hoping to distract him long enough for Samuel to recover. I gave it all I had, but that was never enough against him; he was faster, stronger, and his psionic abilities made it difficult. Behind me I could hear Brennan charging up to I have my back but Ashlocke blasted him out the entry way and over the railing.

"NO!" I shouted looking at Jeremy, the drop was two floors and landing on the hard cement could have possibly killed him. Jeremy had already taken off to go see how he was….Ashlocke wasted no time cornering me. But suddenly he was attacked by a large tiger, it was Samuel. The tiger had its claws drawn into Ashlocke's back, causing him to scream but he managed to get him off his back and as the two fought I went into the hall to recover.

The others gathered and told me that Jeremy had taken Brennan to the Helix. It was clear in their expressions that it didn't look good.

"You working for Adam now? The very guy who made us these monsters?"

I could hear Gabriel talking to Samuel. This was getting ugly, if Sam knew that Adam was…well Adam we were screwed…The more Ashlocke talked the more uneasy we became and Adam was telling us to leave. But we needed to stay because there was still a chance that Samuel would trust us…since Adam did restore his powers. While Wes was changing back into a human form Ashlocke attacked him with a large blast.

All Gabriel could do was laugh, "That will teach you to choose the wrong side!"

He looked over at us then turned and walked out. Lexa was ready to fire a laser at him but I stopped her, "no…we'll lose." I went over to Samuel and put my head to his chest, his heart beat was slow.

When I took his hand he looked at me, "I'm sorry…I let you guys down."

Shaking my head I replied, "You gave it your all." Samuel nodded and I could see the pain in his eyes.

"Was he…telling the truth?"

I gripped his hand tighter, "yeah…Adam did….but he's not an evil man, and he knew you wanted him dead but he still tried to cure you Sam. He believed you'd do the right thing." "Yeah." Samuel turned away from me and not long after that he died.

It was a tough birthday that year….Brennan had a broken arm and rib, we had a small ceremony for Samuel…adding his name to the rock that had Emma's name. We considered him a part of our team because he put his life on the line to battle our toughest enemy and saved my life when Ashlocke had me cornered. The others hadn't forgotten that it was my birthday and I told them that the party was off, so I called Raphael and cancelled…he knew something bad happened so he wasn't too mad at me. Everyone had been drained, worried about Brennan and disappointed that Ashlocke had gotten away again. I was still kind of in a haze from seeing Samuel die that I wasn't in the mood for a party.


	24. Chapter 24: Buried Beneath

Chapter 24: Buried Beneath

In the weeks after our loss against Ashlocke, Adam had been quiet and busier than he used to be….His lights would be on all hours of the night, making me wonder if he slept at all. "One of us has got to talk to Adam, Jer this isn't like him…you know that."

"And say what Val? Geeze Adam you need to move on? Just give him some time. Adam needs to deal with Adam….not us."

I shrugged and walked away from him, once again I was pissed off at him. Sometimes Jeremy had a big mouth and said the wrongs things, one of his major flaws. As I walked I had no idea where I was going and as I turned the corner I heard someone call my name. At first I didn't recognize the voice till I saw who it was coming from. "Adam? Are you alright? We're worried about you…"

He was sitting down with his elbows on his knees to hang his head down between his arms. "Take a seat."

After taking a look around I sat down slowly across from him, eager to hear what really was on his mind.

"A lot has gone on the past couple of weeks; losing Samuel…losing any team member no matter how long they've been with us is not an easy thing. But there is something else I need to tell you and I know this is horrible timing but you need to know now."

I gave Adam a look of curiosity and hate….this always meant there was something he needed to tell me that he couldn't tell me before…or that he didn't want to tell me.

"What Adam…I'm already pissed at Jeremy now tell me why I should be pissed at you," I snapped forgetting the drawn face and empty eyes staring back at me that used to be full of authority and hope.

"Ashlocke has a new right hand…and it's a woman named Lisa. She's…an elemental and also your half sister," Adam finished.

"What? Half sister?" I looked around for the video cameras…this was insane; I had to be on some cheezy ass daytime drama or Maury. "Adam I don't have any sisters…or brothers for that matter...hell I don't even have parents anymore and your trying to tell me that...no, that can't be! My parents were married till their death and your trying to tell me that one of them cheated and had a kid with someone else.?" I got up from my seat with blood pumping and eyes feral.

"Now Val take deep breaths…"

"To Hell with breathing Adam you better explain yourself quick!" I advanced toward him but stopped hearing Jeremy run into the room to see what was going on.

"I didn't know either…her name is Lisa Prescott, she's two years younger than you. I assume that your father had an affair and never knew of the child. Her mother must have brought her to me for gene therapy."

"Then how did you find this out? Hm? Prescott is pretty common last name." My head was turning to mush quickly; none of what Adam was saying had sunk in at all…my dad a cheat? When I was only a baby?

"I'm aware of that. With the information of her DNA that I had from back then in comparison to yours…there was a match."

I looked over at Jeremy and he didn't seem to understand what we were talking about. "Half sister or not…I'm going to kick her ass so hard she won't remember her name." I turned and took off running to my car, in a hurry to get away from the strange facts just uncovered.

I got on Shalimar's bike even though I couldn't find the helmet and that I didn't really have a motorcycle license either. "Damnit…" I was so pissed off that Adam didn't even have a chance to tell me what kind of elemental I was dealing with, but I wasn't going to bother asking him…it would be a surprise. When I got to the strand location I parked outside and smiled at the body guard, "I'm not here for freak show boy…I'm looking for Lisa, she's got something of mine that I want to rip out of her." After a strange look from the guard he disappeared and I waited patiently tapping my foot and folding my arms. When the door opened a rather short...I'd say five foot two, blonde haired chick with green eyes looked at me.

"You Lisa?"

She nodded, "Yeah who the hell are you?"

I punched her in the face.

She grabbed her left cheek in pain, "what did I do to you?"

I was just disappointed that I didn't hit her hard enough to knock her to the ground. "You exist…that's what you did to me…your whore for a mother slept with my father and gave birth to you. And just like all other mistakes, you need to be corrected." I cracked my knuckles.

She looked at me with surprise, "Omg…you're Valerie right? Ofcourse! The witty and dark feral canine. Gabriel has told me much about you."

I rolled my eyes, "oh? Like the time I punched him the nose…and the time he kicked me in the shin? Wow he is a great bearer of knowledge isn't he?"

Lisa looked at me disgusted, "No…you're wrong. He told me the truth, about you, your mother and our dad…about what happened to them, that you killed them."

My eyes turned to ice, "I did WHAT?"

"Killed them Valerie, you kicked them, punched them, beat them up, and then shot them dead." Her voice was cold as she looked me dead in the eyes; the truth in her voice disturbed me the most.

"No, you're lying…I'm not going to believe a damn word that any of Ashlocke's followers say, in my eyes you're corrupted like him."

"Go ahead, deny what you did…but everyone will learn the truth sooner or later don't you think? You can't hide anymore and an innocent man was sent to jail because of you."

In a split second my leg came up and this time I did knock her off her feet to the ground. The guards were coming fast so I took off to my bike, and to my surprise they didn't follow.

"I didn't….they were murdered, I saw their bodies in the morgue…the guy confessed to doing it, didn't he?" She was nuts…beyond nuts...Insane, that little bitch was just trying to get under my skin, but it worked.

When I got back to Sanctuary I hid, they didn't hear what Lisa said so they didn't know. It wasn't true…couldn't have been true because I hadn't visited my parents until I saw them at the morgue. Then another strange feeling came over me, panic…a familiar panic feeling…not human, but feral.

"EVERYBODY LEAVE SANCTUARY NOW!" I yelled over my comlink and got out of my room and ran toward the helix, trying to get it powered up.

Jesse rushed in with Lex not far behind, "Val what's going on?"

"I don't know…but we need to get out of here now, just trust me on this one. Where is everyone else?" I found Jeremy with Adam when I went searching in the lab; they had the same questions but I told them to just trust me and so they headed to the Helix.

"Brennan! Shalimar!" Running around the corner I ran into Bren, "Where's Shalimar?" That was when it hit, the earthquake.

Our heads went up to the rocky ceiling above us as seemed to shake forever. "Everyone but Shal is in the helix, go and I'll grab her and meet you there."

Brennan defied that and ran the other direction, "ugg…"

When the shaking seemed to stop I noticed a lot of things had fallen over or were barely hanging together. It was too dangerous for any of us to be walking around. Jesse was calling over the comlink but the signal was fuzzy.

Then another one hit, "Shit!" I fell into the wall as pieces of rock and metal started to fall.

"Did you find her!" He didn't hear me. "Damn you Brennan!" The damaged computers started a fire from a spark; it spread like crazy. My fears were now pointing me into a different direction; Sanctuary was almost unrecognizable as the aftershock stopped.

"Shalimar!" I called out running to the other side, no answer. "Brennan!" Someone grabbed me from behind, "Put me down!"

It was Jeremy, "we've got to go, the mountain is going to cave!"

When he said that I felt myself panic even more, "No we can't leave Brennan and Shal! STOP!" I fought him kicking all the way to the helix.

When Jeremy put me down in the Helix I took off back down the catwalk, the metal was so hot from the flames my shoes were starting to melt. "BRENNAN ANSWER ME!" I cried out but Jeremy and Jesse had a hold of me and Lexa flew the helix right out of the mountain before it collapsed. "How could you leave them?" I begged them to answer me as I sat on the floor with swelled up eyes. No one could answer me. "We've got to back. We need to dig them out before they run out of air. Turn it around Lexa; you wouldn't leave me behind like that would you? Or Jesse?"

"Do you think it's safe Adam?"

He shrugged but I could tell he was really considering it. Finally she turned the bird around after Adam said to and in a few minutes we were at the bottom of the mountain. Smoke was rising from underneath some loose rocks.

"Let's go" I pointed to there but Adam held us back.

"It's too dangerous and we have no tools to get them out"

I glared at Adam for not pointing this out sooner.

In a couple hours Adam managed to get a crew of people and some tractors to start moving rock. The guys gave me some boots and gloves so I could help in their search. I climbed around carefully, not wanting to fall through or unintentionally crush one of them buried beneath. In frustrated I looked to Adam, "I can't do this like this…my nose isn't as strong."

He was a little hesitant at first because they had no gear to protect paws, "alright, but be careful."

I started to change form before he even finished, nose forming a snout and legs got shorter, bending into hind legs. My entire body itched as fur sprouted, melting away the clothes I was wearing. With my snout I could smell lots of things, like the body odor one of the crew guys had. Adam was right; the rocks were hot, making me move quicker…covering more ground than any of the workers. I knew what Shalimar and Brennan smelled like and I froze…catching a familiar scent. I barked for the others, pawing at the dirt; they quickly started to dig and I ran back down to a trailer and changed back getting a pair of clothes and going back up there. By the time I got up there they had dug down ten feet using some strange machine.

"Brennan! Wait stop!" I told them being able to see his hand. I could hear Jesse shouting as he ran up to see what was going on. A little scared I touched his dirty hand and felt it twitch then take hold of mine. "He's alive! Let's get him out." I stayed on the ground holding his hand while they dug around him, carefully removing dirt and rocks. He managed to hang on for an hour; it took them that long to dig up the area around him. Finally they had his head out and he could breathe; a guy said that a small air pocket was the reason he was still alive. The first soft spoken words from his mouth were Shalimar.

I looked at Jesse and he answered for me, "Don't worry man we'll find her alright?" Brennan made a coughing sound and then he started to free himself from being buried.

It was getting dark as I made my third trip around the area for Shalimar. She was just too deep to be detected by scent and Brennan wasn't going to believe me.

"Search again, keep looking."

I was tired and didn't think I could search anymore; my shoulders sank as my paws carefully went over debris. Yawning I lost my footing and slipped down a few feet, clipping a rock with my shoulder. Jesse came over to see if I was alright and I walked down to the trailer to change back and get something to eat. Lexa was looking nervous as she was talking to Jeremy. Right when I laid down on a cot there was yelling and cheering coming from outside. All of us jumped up and rushed out of the trailer to see large lights focused on one area on the south side. I tried looking over their shoulders and managed to get a view of Shalimar as they tried to pull her out, but for some reason they had stopped. Shal was unconscious dressed in her exercise clothes, and then the strong scent of blood hit me. There was a pole sticking clear out of her side that they were now trying to shorten to get her out. I honestly thought Brennan was going to cry, he started choking up a little as they started to access her injury.

Adam had gotten closer and started examining and sighed, "She needs blood and it looks like it missed her liver by a few inches. We need to get her out carefully and quickly to the hospital."

I went back to the trailer and I felt better knowing that the two were found but I had so many other things still on my mind…was Shalimar going to be okay? And do I mention to the others that I met with my half sister? No…now wasn't the time for anything like that, but what she said was still eating at me for some reason, that chick was insane though.


	25. Chapter 25: Hiding in Doubts

Chapter 25: Hiding in Doubts

The five of us sat together, while Brennan stood pacing in worry and refused to see a doctor to get checked up.

"Damnit what is taking so long!" he growled with tight fists, sparks coming from them unintentionally.

"Calm down before you set this place on fire…" I was feeling over anxious as he kept moving back and forth. Angered at my statement he surprised me by grabbing me by the neck and pulling me out of my chair to hold me up above the ground. Looking down at him I could tell he didn't know what he was doing. "Down," I gasped and tried kicking him.

Jeremy rolled his eyes and blasted Brennan to let me down, "ow…" my ass hit the ground first, "couldn't you tell him to put me down gently?"

He looked away, "just shut up Val.."

Biting my lip I looked away from his coldness, "right." After I got up I left the room to find something to drink, that's when I saw HER again. "What are you doing here?" I snapped at Lisa actually meaning what I asked her.

"Visiting, and to give a gift," she handed me a manila envelope.

Looking at it I knew what it was…"Why are you doing this? Why not just go to the police and make your case known there?"

Lisa smiled at this, "You still denying it Valerie?" she laughed, "why? Because I want to see you suffer…squirm…and your punishment should be something more painful than what they would do."

With that she turned and left. Holding the envelope I didn't want to open it at all….ever, would my conscious let me? What was in this folder anyway?

I sat down on a bench and opened the "gift". There were pictures…and a couple sheets of paper. The photos were of my parent's house, my mom's body on the couch...bloody and her cheek purple already from being punched in the face with scratches. I covered my mouth seeing her like that. The next was of the gun… sitting on the counter and there were plenty more of my dad who was on the floor. Skimming through the report it noted that it was a murder with no apparent witnesses, but prints were recovered from the gun…there was a positive match to a known criminal, hair was also found but it matched "the daughter of the victims". My mind started thinking back hard, "I had never been to their house before…how could that be?"

They were forced to move when mold had made the place unfit to live. But who did these prints match? Through the documentation it never named a suspect, though I knew they had one…a crazy man who they said lived on the streets. These weren't the documents I had seen when I went to the morgue…these looked original 'cause the other version was neatly typed and this was hand written.

"There was no forced entry…nothing was stolen from the home and anger seems to have been the motivation. Victims had no known enemies and were shot at close range after the confrontation. Killer left a note on the wall in blood..." Reading this made me gasp out loud as well. I quickly found the picture of the message on the wall and closed my eyes, in blood it had said, 'Do you love me now?' "Oh my god…"

Looking around the hall was empty and I started to cry, I did it…I killed them...I didn't remember it...but I did it. Someone must have covered up for me, who exactly I didn't know…could have been Adam? I couldn't risk asking him because then he'd know what I had done.

I threw away the papers and photos before going back where the others were. Brennan was sitting down finally and Lexa was asleep with her head on Jesse's shoulder. I sat down away from them on the other side of the room. I felt distant…from them, from the hospital and almost everything else. My mind seemed focus on trying to remember that night my parents were killed…by me, why wasn't it coming to the surface? I wanted to go home….but home was no longer there. Adam was on the phone getting arrangements settled for a place to stay until Sanctuary was rebuilt. I looked at my watch, we were supposed to leave in two weeks for Jesse and Lexa's wedding in Quinta Roo; I wondered if we were still going now. A doctor finally came, Brennan jumped up with lightning speed (no pun intended).

"She will be alright. Some bed rest will be in order till the stitches heal and all that will be left is a scar, a small price to pay for what could have been much worse. Shalimar will probably be awake in half an hour so you can go in and see her then."

"Thank you doctor," Brennan sighed relieved.

I laid down on a couple of chairs that I had put together and figured I'd get in a short nap while we waited.

Dream

I left the gun there. What a stupid mistake, I realized as I drove down the dark street. My hands were pale on the steering wheel as I looked down, knuckles swollen red with blood under my finger nails. Faster. The needle was pushing 120 mph. My body felt heavy and tired, so I leaned in close to the steering wheel. Bright headlights coming towards me startled me, making me sit back up and I swerved the car back onto my side of the road. I got back home, falling into the shower after I turned it on and laid back against the wall while it ran. I slid down the floor, resting my head against the other wall and fell asleep. In shock I woke up under the now cold water.

"Val? Val wake up!" Jeremy shook me as I mumbled and shook in my sleep. Opening my eyes I looked at him.

"Are you alright?"

I didn't know what to say…"Yeah, just a bad dream."

Jeremy helped me up, "Shalimar is up."

I felt weak but managed to hide it from Jeremy and the others as we left the waiting room to Shalimar's room. On the way I looked at Adam…wondering if he knew something that I didn't.


	26. Chapter 26: Wedding Arrival

Chapter 26: Wedding Arrival

Two weeks had passed and it was time to leave for Jesse and Lexa's wedding. All of us had been staying in our own apartments that we shared with each other, only Adam lived alone not far from mine and Jeremy's. Shalimar was recovering well with Brennan's help; she did have a nasty looking scar and looked pretty bad for a few days after leaving the hospital. Jesse and Lexa even asked Shalimar if she wanted them to put it off for another week, but Shalimar insisted she'd be alright by the time of the wedding. Also I still hadn't told anyone about meeting Lisa, but I had almost mentioned something to Adam to see if he knew anything, of course I chickened out at the last moment.

I was packing, needing enough clothes to last me a week was a start. Our hotel was going to be on the beach so I had to pack a swimsuit and flip flops. I was going to ask Jeremy if he wanted help packing but he surprised me by saying he already had.

"When?" his bag was sitting there by the door.

"When you were in the shower…"

I thought back, "you packed in five minutes?"

Jeremy shrugged, "believe me…I've got packing down to a science."

I laughed, forgetting that Jeremy had done a lot of traveling through-out his life. "Man…I guess you should have packed my stuff. Too late now though, just got one more thing and I'm ready to get out of here." I went and grabbed my cell phone and charger, keeping the phone but packing the charger. It was difficult leaving Lucy because she didn't understand why we were leaving her but I promised I'd make it up to her when we got back. "Vacation time!" putting on my sunglasses we headed out the door on time. Our flight was going to be long and the only other one on our flight was Adam; Lexa and Jesse headed out a day before us to make sure arrangements were good. Brennan was with Shalimar, they were leaving that night since Shal had a doctor appointment in the morning.

On the flight Adam sat on Jeremy's right while I sat by the window on his left. It was going to be a tight schedule on the first night with the reception dinner. The second night was the bachelorette party Shal and I put together for Lexa and the next day would be last minute alterations on our dresses. Then the boys would party that night; the wedding would be the next day on a Saturday. I tried sleeping a bit on the plane since there wasn't much to do anyways and it beat feeling nervous about tight spaces. Jeremy seemed deep into his psychology magazine that he picked up at the airport and with headphones in Adam looked to be meditating. In half an hour I fell asleep with my head on Jeremy's arm.

Dream

Looking around I was in the morgue, following a man in a white jacket. He lead to the two tables that were covered with blue sheets. "Take as much time as you need," he said before leaving and closing the door behind him. Cautiously I approached the longer body, uncovering him slowly I looked at him, such a familiar face. "Daddy?" As I reached out to touch his face a hand rested on my shoulder, "I thought you said…" When I turned around it was my mother with blood dripping from her nose, "Your father and I never loved you anyway…" Her hand grabbed my neck and started choking me, it felt so real.

Something was pressed against my face, "Come on breathe Val…breathe."

I managed to get one eye open and woke realizing it was a dream. My hand moved the oxygen mask away, and I sat up realizing I was in the center isle of the plane cabin. Everyone was staring at me but I looked at Jeremy and Adam, "I was being choked."

Adam put the mask back over my face, "you stopped breathing in your sleep."

I felt so embarrassed to have such a violent nightmare be made so public, "Oh…okay." Finally they let me get back in my seat but Jer and I fought when he said I couldn't sleep anymore on the plane. There were still two hours left in the flight but the movie they had for us to watch made those two hours seem short.

After we landed everything seemed rushed. Quickly we got our bags and took a cab to the hotel, calling Lexa on the way so she could meet us in the lobby. When I caught a view of that crystal blue water I knew right where I wanted to go. Once in our room Jeremy and I began unpacking, "Can we go check out the beach for a while before the dinner?"

He shook his head, "maybe tomorrow Val."

I frowned after believing that he would have agreed. "Oh, okay.." When I finished I sat down on the bed and watched Jeremy drink some coffee he had got before we went to the room. "Ever thought about us getting married?" I could feel the tension that grew suddenly between us. "So…you think just because Jesse and Lexa get married, you think we should?"

My eyes blinked in disbelief, "Uhm, no that's not what I said…was just a thought." Jeremy looked down at me, "I don't think now is the best time for something like that…with things being so uncertain right now."

I bit my bottom lip, 'was he really saying this to me?' I thought, 'wow…' He literally left me speechless and it hurt 'cause it sounded like he didn't love me at all. I tried to make excuses for him, like that maybe he was upset still about what happened on the plane.

The reception dinner was painful for me. I felt like I couldn't talk to Jeremy, and Shalimar looked a little tired from the flight, also I had never seen Adam look so rough in my life. I must admit I was a little spaced out. My thoughts were split between Jeremy's earlier words and the dream, where were these images coming from? Memories that I didn't remember? Or was I making them up based on that report I read? Inside a felt a panic coming, what if the first dream was real? Lisa couldn't possibly be right, I would have been arrested and be in jail by now for murder. That man…the one they said did it, I remember seeing him. A homeless looking guy wearing dirty rags and probably smelled like garbage. His eyes looked at me so empty of life and helpless in handcuffs; I had met him to assure the police that he was not known to the family as a friend or relative. They said he was sneaking around the neighborhood with hands covered in blood crying out "redrum", you know that line from the Stephen King novel.

I felt bad about not being more alive at the dinner, but Jesse and Lexa seemed absorbed in each other's smiles that they didn't seem to notice. When it was over we left together but didn't say a word between each other, I only hoped that tomorrow would be a more relaxed day.


	27. Chapter 27: Learning and Leaving

Chapter 27: Learning and Leaving

I woke up to the smell of breakfast, "Mmm."

Opening my eyes Jeremy was staring at me, "hey…Just wanted to say I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. I just have a lot on my mind right now."

He kissed my lips and told me to sit up. On the tray were two pancakes, four strips of bacon, two eggs and some toast. I was still a little bitter but managed to smile since I was so surprised, "thanks."

After I finished eating I thought for sure that we were going to go down to the beach. That was until we were told that there was a red flag warning when sharks were spotted not far from the coast. Instead of the beach we decided to check out the city before I had to get ready for the party. The problem was that Jeremy wanted to know what we had planned for Lexa, but the whole thing was supposed to be a secret between me and Shalimar. I could tell Jeremy was getting a little agitated about the party, because he wouldn't be able to go and make sure we're safe. Since I really didn't feel like fighting again with him, I tried to talk about other things.

We had a quiet dinner at small outdoor restaurant that Jeremy let me choose. He told me that he had been saving a lot of money to get out of the apartment we had been staying at rent free thanks to Adam.

"Remember when you said you couldn't leave the team till it was time? Don't you think that now may be that time to let go? I mean, Val we're all grown up now and we need to get out there and try living a normal life. We can't keep battling enemies forever you know? I just think that it's a good time to move on."

I looked down at my dinner while he talked, "Yeah…I know what you mean. It seems living in that apartment has kind of separated the team a little…who knows what things will be like once we go back and Jesse and Lexa are now married. I'm just scared Jer, I tried living on my own and I didn't make it."

He gave me a questioning look, "what do you mean didn't make it?"

I could feel my cheeks flushing a little, realizing the mistake I had made…never did I tell him the problems I had and that Adam had to take me in. "I lost my job…and did some things I shouldn't of, but Adam took me in and helped me. I was starting to lose control again while I was staying at a safehouse."

A dark look came over him that was starting to scare me, "why haven't you told me about this? What happened Val?"

I started getting uncomfortable, "I…I don't want to talk about, not now okay?"

Reluctantly he nodded and we left the place to go back to our hotel room.

When I was changing my clothes Jeremy confronted me again, "you're going to tell me now."

"Tell you what?" I was a bit confused. He grabbed my arm tightly and threw me down on the bed.

"What the hell are you doing?" I protested.

"Don't give me that crap, you're going to tell me what happened or I'll find out myself." I raised a brow, "you wouldn't dare."

Jeremy's smile freaked me out and he moved on top of me, "Oh I would…"

Then I felt him connect to my memories, it was painful…like a migraine as I was able to see the memories he managed to lift from my brain…watching them as I knew them. Now he knew…about the drugs...about losing control with Brennan...about my parents…the whole truth.

When he stopped his hand slapped me across the face, "I'm out of here…" was all he said and he started packing his bag.

"I'm sorry…" I started to cry, "Where are you going? Please don't leave, I can explain." He didn't stop but responded, "there is nothing to explain Valerie, you lied to me…for god sakes you killed your parents? And to think I wanted to marry you…a psychopathic killer."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, "NO Jeremy I didn't do it…I didn't kill them I swear, read my memories...I have no memory of killing them!"

He shook his head, "I've seen enough of what you remember…you weren't even going to tell me. I'm getting a different room; I can't stand the sight of you right now."

That was it…he was gone again. I laid on the bed trying my best not to cry…and kept thinking that he would calm down and come back. Looking at the clock I had only a few minutes to get ready for the party. I took a quick shower and tried to hide the fact that I had been crying. I needed to survive this night for Lexa's sake; there was no way I could ruin this moment for her. Instead of thinking more about it I planned to just forget about the things Jeremy said to try and have fun. I met the other two in the lobby of the hotel and we took a limo to the secret location. "How are things going with you two?" Lexa asked us.

Shalimar smiled, "great, it's beautiful here and there is so much to do."

I faked a smile, "Yeah we went out to dinner and looked around in the city." I thought Lexa had a feeling that we were taking her to the famous club in Quinta Roo, Senior Frogs.

When we got there the place was starting to get crowded with people from all over the area. They gave us tequila shots when we walked into the place. In the back we could see the slide that people were going on that lead into a pool, which answered the question why so many people were wet. We stayed there for hours! Dancing and drinking shots together. Lexa looked very happy, it reminded me of the girl's night out we took every month to get away from Jeremy and Adam.

On the dance floor a guy started dancing with me, putting his hands on my waist and moving both of us to the music. With a clear mind I would have kicked his ass out of the club but leaned back against him, letting him get closer. He took his hand off my waist and turned me around, the guy looked more like a local than a tourist…which was the majority there.

"Hi," I said looking up at him. To my surprise he leaned in and kissed me, pushing his tongue in my mouth and something hit the back of my throat forcing me to swallow.

When he broke the kiss I looked at him confused.

"To get you in the mood," he answered with a thick accent.

I had been tricked. Ecstasy…that's what this guy just shoved in my mouth. I pushed him away and looked around in panic for Shalimar…It was dark.

"Shaaaalmar? Shh"

The guy then pulled me over to the bar to sit down.

"Get away from me!" I guess my eyes must have flashed 'cause he looked at scared and ran away. I covered them with my hands, "why?" I whispered to myself. When I looked up Shalimar was there asking me something, but I couldn't hear her and her face kept changing shape. "He…drugged me." I fell into her and she caught me.


	28. Chapter 28: Regression

Chapter 28: Regression

When I came to I was in the hotel room in bed, I felt like crap and threw up in a trash can that was by the bed.

Adam was sitting on the bed, "What the hell were you thinking?" he asked me.

"I didn't know..." I mumbled back.

"Where is Jeremy? He isn't answering his cell phone."

"He left..."

Adam looked shocked and I answered him before he asked why.

"We got into a fight…he knows about the drugs...what I did to Brennan…and…" I opened my eyes more and sat up, "Adam did I kill my parents?"

He frowned and looked away, "you were out of control…and didn't even have memory of doing it. I had a guy working on the case and I went to him and he threw out the evidence you left…fingerprints. I knew that going to jail wasn't going to help your mutation, but make it worse. I also knew that the real Valerie Prescott would not kill her parents."

I started to cry, "I talked to Lisa…didn't believe her...that's when I started having the dreams. I remember now. Jeremy hates me…I hate me, how could I kill someone Adam?"

In a strange gesture that wasn't Adam…he held me against his chest in a hug, "you made a mistake, no one blames you for it. But I apologize…I've kept so many things from you these past years, but I did it because I care about you Valerie and I didn't want it to stand in the way of you getting better."

I looked up at him, "lying to me made it worse. I can't trust you anymore or myself…I've got no one. Adam you've made my life worse. Get out..." I pushed him away and closer to my pillow. He didn't move. "GET OUT!" I yelled.

Slowly he got up; "call if you need anything..." then he left my room.

I woke up in the afternoon to the phone ringing. I didn't care who it was, I didn't feel like talking to anyone. More importantly I didn't feel like myself. I put on my bikini and grabbed my purse before heading out of the room. Sitting down in the sand I watched the waves through my sunglasses, staring at them in a deep trance. I got up and started walking into town, passing by the silver and leather shops to one on the corner, it read "firearms". I went inside and told the guy what I wanted and paid for it before walking out with the gun in my pocket with ammunition. My eyes were focused on my path, in the hotel lobby I went to the front desk and asked for the room number of Jeremy Danvers.

The woman seemed hesitant to give it, so she called him first before giving it. "He said not to give you the number."

I walked away and decided I could find him myself. Using my sensitive nose I smelled him out around the small hotel grounds. I smiled as I found his room, first I decided to be nice and knock…holding the loaded gun behind my back. "Open up Jer…" When he didn't answer I kicked in the door to find him standing there.

"What the hell are you doing Valerie?"

I really had no clue what I was doing but I knew that this had to be done. "You thought you could just get mad at me and I'd forgive you again?" I held up the gun and pointed it at him. "So you're going to shoot me? Just like you did to your parents?"

I growled at him and flashed my eyes, "Just who do you think you are! And yea I'm going to shoot you." Looking at him he walked closer, "Don't move!" I ordered.

Jeremy didn't look afraid, but passive, "Valerie put the gun down and let's talk about this, alright?"

"NO!" I yelled and my hand started shaking as I pointed it at him. Closing my eyes I pulled the trigger, but when I opened them Jeremy wasn't there.

"Jer?" There was a hole in the wall of the bullet from my gun. Leaning against the wall I was starting to become more aware of what was going on. "Why am I doing this…?" I whined and held the gun tighter. Then he came out from the other room cautiously, his eyes didn't leave mine, "Don't you dare use your abilities." I waved the gun showing him I still had it as I sat on the ground. "I'm evil Jeremy…Adam says I killed them. I'm starting to remember it now, I didn't mean to kill them," I whispered looking at my feet. "I almost killed you too" I looked up with my eyes sore from crying, "I don't deserve to live, I can't live with all this…" I put the gun to my chest, against my heart with the intent to fire. At the last second Jeremy sent me a blast to try and change my mind. The blast only made me miss the target and I shot the other side of my chest. I gasped feeling the strong pain and dropped the gun.

"Why….?" I said knowing what he had done.

Jeremy pulled off his shirt and held it against my chest as he put me in his lap. "I love you Valerie, that's why."

Reaching into his pocket he took out his phone and called the local police to get an ambulance there. "Don't call…I'll miss the wedding. Please.." I begged him knowing that if I went into a hospital they'd keep me for a couple days at least. I was so oblivious to how severely I was hurt.

He cursed and started dialing another number before I passed out.

When I woke up I immediately sat up and fell back down in pain.

"Shhh you have to stay still."

"Jeremy? You're back….What happened?" Looking down my chest was bandaged and my eyes hurt…Adam was in a chair on the other side of the bed. "I thought I told you to get out?"

Adam and Jeremy looked at each other, and then at me.

"What? What happened to me? I feel worse than when Adam left."

Jeremy sat down on the bed and took my hand, "we should tell her Adam, I can't lie to her."

"Tell me what?" I could feel my head aching.

"Valerie…you tried to kill me," He could see the shock on my face and finished describing what happened, "Everything's okay though alright? You just shot yourself, that's why you need to stay still and you're lucky that it didn't do any damage."

My jaw dropped open and I looked around noticing this was not my hotel room, "are you sure? How come I don't remember all this?" I squeezed his hand as tight as I could, which wasn't much, "are you mad at me still? Now do you believe me?"

Jeremy looked away but replied yes.

Adam cleared his throat, "probably from all the stress and returning memories of your parents after years of being repressed has caused some kind of trigger. With some work we'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

It was hard for me not to address that it was Adam's fault this happened, but it seemed like he already knew that.

"Lay with me?"

Jeremy nodded and said goodbye to Adam before lying down next to me.

"I'm sorry...For what I did and for not telling you what happened. I was just scared you'd leave again. Jeremy, I've never been happier than when I am with you."


	29. Chapter 29: Wedding Bells

Chapter 29: Wedding Bells

"What time is it?" I woke up and the room was dark but I could feel Jeremy still holding me.

"Ten to eight." I moved around to face him and winced, "don't do that…you could break your stitches."

I had forgotten that tonight was the guy's night out. Jeremy didn't seem to be moving as quickly as he should to get ready, "I'll be fine...I swear. You deserve to go out and have fun."

He sat down next to me and it seemed like he was going to stay, "Are you sure? Because I don't have to go if you don't want me to."

I yawned, "Yes go…I'm probably just going to sleep anyways; I'm still tired." After he kissed me goodbye he left the room and I was alone again. I cursed realizing that I had missed the fitting for my gown today, but it probably wasn't a big deal 'cause my measurements were about the same. Then within a few minutes I back to sleep.

Dream

I was sitting on the counter in the bathroom facing the door. There were bloody fingers prints on the handle and drops of blood on the floor. Curious I got up and bent down on the ground to smell the blood, it was mine. When I stood back up I caught a sight of my image in the mirror, "Omg." I reached for the towel to put it over my chest wound; it seemed like somehow the stitches must have opened, however, I couldn't grasp the towel, "What the….hell?" I ran out the bathroom and tripped over something. "Woah!" I almost screamed seeing that I had tripped over myself and on the other side of the room Jeremy was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed. "Jeremy? What's going on here?" He didn't respond. "Jeremy? Can you hear me?" I got to my feet and walked over to him. "Jer?" Then I noticed he had the gun in his hand and he raised it up at himself and fired.

"NOOO!" I shouted out loud waking myself up from the nightmare sweating.

"Val? Are you alright?" I heard Shalimar call out from the front door.

Carefully I got up and put on a robe before opening the door, "Hey Shal," I tried to give her a hopeful smile.

"Jeremy said he wanted me to check on you and I heard you yelling, is everything alright?"

I looked around still a little shaken up over that nightmare, "Bad dream…been having a lot of those lately."

Shalimar put her hand on my shoulder, "You're shaking…Mind if I stay a while?" Silently I opened the door for her to come in and she walked in, "Now you need to get back in bed and rest. If I stay with you do think it would help?"

I followed her and carefully laid back down in bed and nodded, "thanks."

Shalimar got me some water to drink and put it on the nightstand along with a bag of chips that she found in the mini bar.

Shalimar sat down, "Lex said it's okay that you missed the fitting, it's strange because I thought Lexa would be one hell of a bridezilla, you know?"

I laughed, "Isn't that a miracle. Maybe marriage will change up her attitude…" We started watching some television and I fell asleep.

When I woke up it was morning, Shalimar was gone but Jeremy was lying with me…he must of told Shal to go when he got back. Today was the wedding, which was at three o'clock sharp. At least I was feeling a bit better after getting a remarkably good night sleep with Shalimar there. There was a knock at the door. "Jer? Someone's here…"

"yeah…" he mumbled and put on some pants before goes to the door.

It was Adam with some other guy carrying a bag.

When they came in they came towards me and the man sat down next to me, "Hi Valerie, I'm Dr. Wyner. You don't remember me but I'm the one that performed your stitches and I'm just here to check and see how they are holding up. Infection can be a real nasty thing." The guys kinda stayed out of the way while the doctor looked the stitches. "Well…It seems like they doing great. They should be ready to come out in a few days, maybe even quicker since Adam informs me that you are a feral and they tend to heal faster."

"Yeah…that's a relief."

He also said it was okay that I go to the wedding just as long as I didn't do anything too strenuous, and then he left with Adam.

"I'm going to take a shower first then if you want I can help you with yours," he smiled.

I threw a pillow at him, "yeah I bet you would like that…"

He held onto the pillow and returned after starting the shower. Jeremy put the pillow down, "I just want to help and get through this alive, you know?" he smiled but I frowned, his words reminded me of dream I had last night. "What's wrong?" He asked alarmed. "Nothing…just, that I love you."

Jeremy looked relieved, "Mmm I like the sound of that," He gave me a kissed then said he'd be right back.

After the painful process of getting ready we headed out to the beach where the wedding would be taking place. It was a pretty setup, with a red and white theme. Shalimar and I wore red dresses while the guys wore cream suits with red ties. Lexa came out wearing a beautiful white gown and Jesse had on a classic black suit with red tie to make him stand out from the guys. Of course there was crying, and to our surprise tears from Lexa, really good cake, and lots of pictures. It was a happy, small, and fun wedding with just our little group. After the toasting, the presents and food we all went our separate ways for the rest of the time in Quinta Roo as planned.

Adam was the first to head back home; he had a lot on his shoulders still about the future of Mutant X. Lexa and Jesse seemed to switch gears to their honeymoon and Brennan and Shalimar seemed to be enjoying the city more. As for us, well I finally got my trip to the beach with Jeremy after my stitches got taken out. We actually had lots of fun and it almost seemed like those first couple of days were forgotten. Since I was happier I was also feeling better mentally and I didn't want to leave when the time came.


	30. Chapter 30: Deceptive Rogue

Chapter 30: Deceptive Rogue

We had only been back a week when Adam told us to meet him for something really important. I had a feeling either it was a mission or had something else to do with Mutant X since things had been quiet. The place that Adam told us to meet was at a hanger of an old airport, which was where he kept the Helix safely.

Once everyone had shown up Adam made the announcement: "Hi…everyone. I'm here with a very important mission, however it is your choice as to whether you want to go or not. It is also highly dangerous. In the jungles of the Amazon there is a mutant there that I've been able to make contact with. His name is Michael and he is a psionic with the ability to contact telepathically with anyone he chooses all over the world. Problem is that Michael is an escapee of the communist government there that wants him detained. They will have coverage of the air and be on foot as well. And I need you guys to help me get him out of there."

I looked at Jeremy and shrugged my shoulders, "Sounds okay to me…" Brennan and Shalimar agreed quickly, probably 'cause it was no secret they were hurting for cash…and Adam was known to pay us well for missions. The only ones still talking were Lexa and Jesse, he didn't want her going but Lex refused to back down. "Ug...we could be here all night!" I whined and Lexa glared at me.

"Okay fine…I'll be the one to stay behind and watch the Helix…but I'm not letting you go half around the world without me," she finally compromised.

To everyone's relief Jesse agreed on it and we were getting into the helix. Adam gave each of us tiny pins to put on our shirts, these would help us keep in contact with each other, but the only way to contact him would be through the helix since he hadn't quite repaired that system.

"Wish us luck Adam!" I gave him a hug before going into the helix and the door closed behind us. After getting into my seat and buckled in we took off towards the Amazon. Once we had reached our max altitude Brennan put the bird in autopilot.

"Heeeeellp" It was a transmission coming over the comlink system in the helix. "Adam?" Brennan tried communicating back.

"Come…back"

There was a lot of static but there was no doubt in our minds that something wasn't right. Quickly it took both Bren and Jesse to get the helix off auto and turned around. At full speed we headed back hoping we would make in time. "This was a trap wasn't it?" I looked at Shalimar, "someone tricked Adam…this doesn't sound right." My mind was racing, 'no one knew where the helix was or that Adam was going to be there at that time and we would be unable to help him but us...Adam and this Michael guy' I thought.

"Adam can you hear us?" Brennan tried to communicate with him.

'Adam is a little busy right now…' a voice rang out in all of our heads loudly. "Ashlocke…" Now was a good time to be afraid. The Helix almost crashed to the ground when Bren tried to land it as quickly as possible. When we got out Adam was slumped against a building that seemed to have been dented from the impact of his body thrown against it. "No…no he can't be!" While the others were facing Ashlocke I ran over to Adam. "Adam you gotta sit up…open your eyes for me damnit" He groaned and managed to open an eye, "good…that's good. Now hang on and we're going to get you to a doctor alright?"

Adam grabbed my wrist, "I'm sorry for the lies I told you…and to the rest of the team, I made some stupid mistakes and I'm deeply sorry for those."

I shook my head, "No Adam…you can't give up, come on have some faith it will all be okay…right?" I couldn't help it, my eyes started tearing.

"Be good Val…be strong, if not for yourself do it for Jeremy, he loves you."

I squeezed his hand, "No Adam you can't leave! We still need you…I still need you!" Adam was getting weaker, "no you don't…not anymore...the rest is up to you now. I'm proud of you."

Our eyes connected for a brief moment as his heartbeat got slower and slower. Then his eyes closed and his heart stopped beating; I could have sworn mine had stopped too. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I cried out in a howl still holding his hand.

Gabriel Ashlocke had gotten away after a small fight between the others; he was too powerful for us. For some reason he ran off, showering to us that he wanted to pick us off one by one…starting with Samuel and now Adam. The others ran over once he was clearly not coming back. No one said much…there was nothing to say…that day we had all lost a father. All that could come to my mind was how could I have let this happen! It wasn't fair and it ate at me inside while I sat on the ground with Jeremy and the others.

"I'm going to kill him….tear him limb by limb, I swear…" I growled breaking the silence and sniffles. "It's just not right…not at all..."


	31. Chapter 31: Closing a Chapter

Chapter 31: Closing a Chapter

We gathered for the ceremony, anyone that knew Adam was invited as word traveled fast that he was dead. No one seemed to ask how he died or anything like that, it wasn't relevant to them. The more important issues among the scientists that showed up was what to do with the work that Adam had done and they realized what a great achievement it was…though us being the result made it a little awkward to be around. When I looked behind me I could see Ashlocke off a few yards away at a safe distance watching.

Jeremy picked up on my growl and looked in the direction but didn't see anything, "what's wrong?"

"I saw Ashlocke…he was right over there," I pointed.

"I didn't see anything, don't worry…he wouldn't dare show his face here."

"Yeah…your right, guess I'm just tired.," which was partially true; since Adam's death I had slept probably two hours…in four days. My eyes had never felt so sucked dry and body so lazy…well I could think of a time but I'd rather not go back there. Truth was reality was sinking in, my…our...lives before would never be the same again.

Of course we'd work together to rid of Ashlocke but what then? Was I being selfish? Was I the only one thinking about this? Then I thought about what Adam had said…he believed in me, so why was I so freaking scared like a coyote in the headlights? I wish I had Lucy to squeeze…but she was not allowed at the funeral. I don't know why…Adam got me Lucy; clearly she was not just a pet. I was tearing up again…from now on was everything going to remind me of him? Would I break down in tears every time I thought of him? So many questions….strange thing was I never had these thoughts when I found out my parents were dead or when I was told Jeremy had died. But I guess that was because I never spent so much time with them and in Jeremy's case I was still angry.

I held onto Jeremy's arm tighter as they started the ceremony; I was shaking but tried not to…that was hopeless. He seemed really understanding, and very detached…but that was Jeremy Danvers, when it came to real deep sad emotions he was cold and distant...must have been a coping mechanism. Sometimes he really annoyed me when he acted this way…but it was better to put up with that then argue at a really bad time. Staying quiet I listened to their words, learning more about the Adam that they knew as a young scientist eager to bring something good to the world. When they finished with their speeches there was some small talk before they put his casket into the ground.

That's when I smelled him…the thick stench of a maniac killer, "Ashlocke go away." Shalimar looked up hearing me, "He's here?"

"Don't you smell him too?"

She shook her head no.

'damnit he's toying with me…' I thought.

'Oh Valerie…you are a little puppy toy.' His voice interrupted my thoughts as he read them.

My heart raced and I looked around panicking, trying to find out where he was.

'Don't you just love a game of hide and kill? Guess who hides?' His laughter echoed painfully.

At the moment I wasn't up for this…I wanted time to get over Adam and be here.

"Jeremy…he's coming after me," I whispered to him as we separated from the others to talk. "I hear him in my head…I see him...I smell him...and now I'm hearing him? Jer he's got to be close by, this IS real."

He hugged me, "Don't worry, we'll be safe…we're leaving this country tonight."

I moved away surprised, "What? Tonight? But we can't…we have to kill Ashlocke, the others need our help we can't just run away!"

He sighed heavily, "We can't…that's the thing. Ashlocke is way more powerful and now knowing he's targeting you, that is just as good of reason as any, right? Val I'm not going to let him have the chance."

I looked back at the others, "but still…they're our friends, we can't do that to them. After we kill him okay? Then we can go and live our lives. That sound good baby?" I smiled taking his hands, "please?"

He smiled back, "alright...but I'm not letting you out of my sight for even a second." We rejoined the group but didn't mention to them what had happened earlier.

"Tonight…we're going to get this done," Brennan announced, "our allies will meet us and we'll get rid of him before he hurts anymore lives."

All of us agreed that giving him anymore time would not be a good idea. For the rest of the day we were to gather people that we trusted and ask them if they wanted to help us. I told Jeremy that we should go visit my friend Raphael; he was, after all, a feral too and just like a snake he carried deadly venom in his teeth.

Once the burial was over we all left in our separate cars and would prepare for the battle of our lives. I will admit it was hard leaving that cemetery; my canine instincts wanted me to stay and wait, but my human brain knew Adam wasn't coming back. Now my sadness was mixed with fear, with Gabriel Ashlocke lurking in the shadows I was a dead man. Just think about it…how many times has Gabriel been defeated, uh….none. My stomach was starting to hurt now more than it already did.

It didn't take us long to make it to a couple familiar mutant's houses to ask them if they wanted to join us. A surprising amount was agreeing till we told them who we were up against. I had no idea that many mutants were afraid of Ashlocke. We got one recruit, Raphael…I knew he would pull through for us. We left his house and headed for home after we told him the time and place to meet.

When we got up to the third story our door was wide open, "oh no…" Jeremy went in first fearing someone was still there but I shook my head, whoever it was had been gone for a while. When I walked in I almost threw up, "Ashlocke…his stench is everywhere. I wonder what he was looking for."

Jeremy looked pissed, no one went into his house, "I don't know…doesn't look like they took anything. Probably just trying to scare us…pack your things so we can leave quick when this is done with."

Quietly I did so, finding my clothes thrown on the floor with other stuff and Jeremy did the same. While I watched some television he made us dinner, "so….Where did you have in mind…for us to go? I take it you already bought plane tickets."

He nodded and swallowed before speaking, "Surprise…I can't tell you till we get to the airport."

I narrowed my eyes, "You're so mean sometimes! Do the others know about it and where it is?"

He nodded again.

"Can I guess?"

Jeremy laughed, "NO, 'cause you'll never figure it out and you'll just be wasting our time."

I poked at my salad in thought, everything was still unreal to me…like time was passing by and I was just standing there watching it.

"Adam actually…pulled some strings to get us the first class tickets," Jeremy whispered. "He did?"

"Yeah…he said by then we'd be back from the mission."

I started crying being reminded that it wasn't how things turned out.

"I'm sorry…" He apologized for making me cry, "I forgot…I didn't mean to." Jer came over and wrapped his arms around me, "let's get some rest before tonight."


	32. Chapter 32: We Need a Resolution

Chapter 32: We Need a Resolution

"Mmm that's it baby….harder," I breathed out forcefully as I lifted my hips to his sculpted body. Like a good man…Jeremy pushed himself deeper and harder between my legs while he loved my neck with his lips. Then when our lips finally did meet, we moaned in pure pleasure as our bodies reached climax. He collapsed on top of me and I rubbed his back knowing the alarm would go off soon. Which meant it was time to get ready for battle.

We jumped at the sound of the alarm when I had just drifted off to sleep. I whimpered at Jeremy's movements because he was still inside me.

"Sorry..." he mumbled apologizing and looked at me, "we gotta grab a shower…"

And once I was clean again I got dressed quickly and made sure that I had everything ready for when we came back…a cage was also sitting the by the door for Lucy. Poor girl…she was still shaken up about Ashlocke breaking in...Lucy told me she hid underneath our dresser and he didn't bother her. And as we were leaving she got scared again and I told her that we were going to fight the guy that broke in, so she seemed better.

Down the street from the location was where we all met. Including me there was ten of us. A nice mixed team of: three ferals, three elementals, two molecular and two psionics. The three others that joined our group had strange connections, a psionic named Jasmine, whom until a few days ago worked for Genomex and I guess a long time ago Brennan dated her. An elemental pyro named Chris whom knew Lexa from being at the Dominion. And lastly a molecular named Maria, she could regenerate herself and I didn't care to see a demonstration so I nodded, but I always knew Raphael had some creepy friends. What a great group right? Ashlocke was so not going to be prepared for us this time.

We took down the Strand easily at first, Ashlocke's men fought but they were not powerful enough to defeat the determination we had to win this time. The only problem I had was that there were mutants running in every direction on fire because of Chris, the sight and smell of burning flesh was both terrifying and sickening. Jeremy stayed close to me, never leaving my side in fears something would happen and I'd need help. The all mighty Ashlocke still hadn't shown his face or anything yet, which made me wonder why. At that thought he was sure to not disappoint me.

'Vaaaallllerie, here little puppy…Come out and play..I've found youuu,' His voice taunted my head and suddenly he jumped down from the rafters hitting me to the ground. Quickly I recovered and laid down some punches of my own…even biting his arm hard enough to make him bleed. Jeremy blasted him but Gabriel was able to put up a shield that blocked it away. Because he was already weak, we knew the shield wouldn't hold very long. "Who's hiding now Ashlocke?" I laughed. I stood back as the others got into place for an attack we all planned, Brennan, Lexa, Jasmine, and Chris were going to hit Ashlocke at the same time with all the ability they had. The combination of psychic energy, electricity, light, and fire we hoped would be enough to destroy him. I thought about Samuel…how he had given his life to destroy Ashlocke and here we were so close. "FIRE!" I announced to them all. For four minutes straight they gave him enough power to destroy probably a lot of mutants and humans, but finally Gabriel fell to the ground on his knees with a blank stare. The four of them stopped and waited; taking the risk I got closer to check his vitals, as I listened for a heartbeat I felt his hands hold both sides of my head…at that moment my entire life was like train passing by me and through the windows I saw all of it. All my ears waited for was the sound of my neck snapping from the strength of the feral underneath me but it didn't come.

When I opened my eyes I was standing, Jeremy was hugging me and everyone else was celebrating too…Looking over I saw charred remains…not a body. Jeremy blasted Gabriel and Chris finished him off. It was all over now. The strongest and most feared mutant in the world had been defeated. I looked away not taking too much pleasure in the gruesome sight.

"Let's go….our plane is going to leave in an hour with or without us," he reminded me. "Yeah…."

He let go of me and I gave everyone in the team a hug of goodbye. It was hard…but I knew that we'd still keep in a touch just like any other family would.

And we did keep in touch often…and still meet every year to catch up on how our lives are. Lexa and Jesse now have a little son named Leo…he's quite the trouble maker for a three year old. Jesse is back in big business, working at a new company and Lexa is his secretary. Brennan turned out to put his basketball skills to good use and coach's college ball, and Shalimar is a crazy cat collector….just kidding! Did I fool you? Nah, Shalimar is not crazy or collects cats, but she does work a refuge that is trying to prevent the extinction of large wild cats. As for us….Well we're doing pretty fine here in Monaco, living in what used to be one of Jeremy's parent's houses. It's right on the beach, right where I wanted to be…remember? Jeremy takes joy in running a casino that is in the city and I work as a security guard for a museum that's right next door. But I'm on temporary leave now because…. We're expecting our first child in late July, and so far so good, no problems. You know…sometimes the world takes important things from you and never gives them back…or you break a few bones here and there, but you gotta hang in there because it also will one day give back.


End file.
